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PEREaRINUS 



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CHILDHOOD. 






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A POEM. 




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BY REV. REUBEN FALES. 

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BOSTON: 




PUBLISHED BY GEORGE W. 

403 Washington Street, 
FOR R. M. BYRAM. 

>■ ■ 


BRIGGS, 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by 

R. M. BYRAM, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



■^ 



PREFACE. 



The design of this Poem is to lead people to 
reflect on the nature of the doctrines in which 
they have been educated and carefully trained ; 
with gentleness to allure them to the habit of 
making use of their reason, while they scrutinize 
^the Holy Scriptures, for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing the truth. 

Peregrinus, the young hero of the poem, is a 
real person, under a fictitious name. The author 
was sufficiently acquainted with him to be qual- 
ified to affirm, that in reality he devoted his incip- 
ient meditations to the subject of theology long 
before the time of life in which, according to the 
usual course of affairs, children are in the habit 
of beginning to reflect either on this topic or upon 
others of serious importance. No poem has ever 
been written whose scenes consist of realities like 
the following. It is not only founded on fact, as 
4, ^ 



<*= — — __ * 

6 PREFACE. 

are many others, but all the materials of the 
superstructure have been furnished from real 
events. 

If some readers should not recognize certain 
doctrines in their portraits as delineated here, 
we have only to remark that all these doctrines 
appear on the stage in such peculiar garb as they 
were accustomed to wear in the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, as well as in the latter end 
of the preceding. None of the lectures which 
were received by Peregrinus in common with the 
family have been suffered to make their appear- 
ance in the song. All that are paraphrased here 
will be found to be such as were elicited in pri- 
vate, by those inquiries which intolerable anxiety 
compelled him to make, and which were ad- 
dressed to his maternal guide, in whose knowl- 
edge of sacred truth he for a long time possessed 
unlimited confidence. 



*- 



PEREGRINUS. 



FIRST BOOK. 

Of Peregrinus, in his early voyage, 
And perilous adventures, on the deep 
Of Intellect, incited and impelled 
By fervent, irrepressible desires 
To see his life-creating Father, God ; — 
To feel and know his all-pervading Love, 
Unquenchable, immortal ; and inhale 
Its pure, ethereal spirit ; then to quaff 
The nectar which it copiously distils. 
And taste the ambrosial viands of the feast, — 
We sing, in humble, truth-directed style. 
As unpretending as our lowly theme. 

Mnemosyne ! thou muse of time elapsed, 
Whose province is in memory to revive 
The scenes and requiems of departed years, — 
Thou real mother of historic verse. 
Of epic song, and biographic lays, — 
Hear thy sole devotee, who thus applies 
To thee ; — who claims thee for his only guide. 



^ ^ 



8 



PEREGRINUS. 



Not her, the mother of the fabled Nine, 
By Roman and by Grecian bards invoked, •-? 

From ancient dark mythology we call ; — 
Those fancied prompters of romantic songs, 
Fictitious records and unreal scenes. 

Unsullied whisperer of poetic truth ! 
Thy harp, though long untuned, resuming now, 
Sing his encounters with the dreadful powers 
Of false theology, traditions vain. 
Presuming ignorance, unhallowed guile, 
Black superstition, and dogmatic rage. 
Sing how, with feeble arms, the child engaged, 
Full oft, in battle with their frantic bands. 
At seasons routing them, before the day 
When his decisive victory was obtained 
O'er all the princes of infernal night : — 
How these, excited into maddening rage. 
Once drove his bark into the horrid gulf 
Of desperation, where no struggling rays 
Of gospel light could penetrate the gloom. 

Thee having chosen as our only muse. 
We still invoke thee : — from thy sacred bowers, 
Descend, with nature's loveliness arrayed. 
To favor these unparalleled designs. 
Through these narrations all thy spirit breathe, 
And thus imbue them with unfaiUng charms, 
To subjugate to love's immortal power 



INVOCATION. 



Unnumbered youths ; then lead them to the source 
Of life's pure river, issuing from the mount 
Of Zion, and the city of our God. 

Fling open those oxygenated doors — 
Though barred and bolted — of thy place obscure ; 
And from thy secret chambers now descending, 
Memoirs within thy mystic shrine preserved 
Develop ; as related once before, 
By Peregrinus, at the warm request 
Of one of that alluring, gentle sex, 
By which our own is polished and refined. 
Presented him with such a fervent zeal, 
As he could neither parry nor decline. 
A fair one of intelligence and grace, 
Whose taste and genius, fiative and improved, 
Encountered few superiors. She displayed, 
In words, in gestures, in her anxious mien. 
The liveliest, keenest sympathy with him. 
In all his trials, sorrows, comforts, joys. 
Of dawning life ; and her acute desires 
To learn the graduations of his course. 
And how the haven of delight he gained, — 
The port of life and evangelic truth ; 
The wonders of his variegated voyage. 

We call for inspiration to a theme 
Unknown to poets in the days of yore, 
Or to the moderns following in the rear, 



-<«> 



10 PEREGRINUS. 



Along the footpaths of the classic throng ; 
Till these, high soaring in aerial flights, 
Evade their pupils, and affect the skies. 

We call for inspiration to disclose 
The dismal, black, and horrible effects, 
On young and unsophisticated minds. 
Of that strange mode of training, long pursued 
By parents, deacons, ministers, and schools, 
To fit these objects of their pious care 
For some high standing in the Christian church. 

"We seek to lead our brethren to reflect 
On all the vain traditions, theories, creeds. 
Long on the consciences of men imposed, — 
First by the dogmatizing church of Rome, — 
As chains infrangible, as fetters strong. 
From which the wearers cannot be released, 
But on the peril of eternal death. 
To bid them learn the character of God, 
In nature and in Scripture, for themselves ; 
To know their own importance, and be free, 
As men accountable to God alone 
For their opinions, doctrines, or belief. 

Muse, who delightest in the sacred fount 
Of memory, hovering o'er the mystic grove 
Which shades the elysium of departed years, 
We call thee to commemorate the scenes 
Of early childhood, hitherto consigned 



<^ 

childhood's experience. 11 

To dark oblivion, there to lie unsung ; 

As if that age, so delicate and pure. 

Through which truth flutters in romantic garb, 

Were deemed unworthy of the poet's lyre. 

This infant's strange experience revive ; 

Display his opening powers, too soon immerged 

In deep anxiety, corroding cares, 

O'erwhelming sorrows, anguish and dismay. 

Which from erroneous education flowed. 

Sing his inquiries after truth divine ; — 

The fervent aspirations of his soul 

To know the love and equity of God, 

The immortal Sire, with all his vast designs, 

By wisdom marshalled ; then surveying these, 

Behold a joyful destiny for all 

His fellow-creatures in their future life. 

His deep investigation and research. 

To find immortal love ; in which he plied 

All instruments and mediums offered then 

To his excited mind ; his deep reflections, 

In solitary places, to replies 

Of his intelligent and pious guide 

To many a query, many a time proposed — 

The guide and teacher of his infant mind. 

To whom, with confidence, he raised his eye. 

For clear solutions of unnumbered themes, 

Exciting grief and agonizing fears. 

Begin, Mnemosyne, these humble strains, 



* 

12 PEREGRINUS. 



With thoughts and meditations of the soul, 
As yet unsuUied with delusive creeds ; 
Unaided with instructions, and unwarped 
By false tradition's influence malign, 
Which give too soon a bias to the thoughts ; 
A griping prejudice, which all the powers 
Of opening reason seldom overcome. 
Or force the giant from his murdering grasp. 

But, muse, forbid thine audience to demand 
Who Peregrinus was, or whence he came ; 
Or, if among the living he remain, 
What land he traverses, or where abides. 
Tell them, it may suffice for them to know, 
That Peregrinus is misfortune's child ; — 
That he was early chief adopted son 
Of grief and pain, calamities and woe. 
But tell them, if they further importune. 
That Peregrine, ere flung upon the shore 
On which Amanda's warm inquiries called 
These secrets from their hiding-place obscure, 
Had long (to speak as heathen poets sing) 
Been made the sport of fortune's blind caprice, 
While navigating life's tempestuous seas. 
Full many a season, her most brilliant offers. 
Like vain illusions, like the tints of rainbows. 
Had disappeared, — all vanishing in smoke, 
Impervious vapors, and heart-chilling mist, 
And sequent darkness buried all in night. 



eg, 

HIS TRIALS. 13 



But, long before this pleasing interview 
Removed the covering from his infant trials, 
Her golden wings expanding, she had flitted 
To regions far away, — no more, forever, 
To glide before him with fantastic motions. 
Her glittering treasures proffering ; — to deceive him 
With hopes of being to mankind a blessing ; — 
His chief desire, — the goal of his ambition. 

As sage Ulysses, by whose secret wiles 
Old Ilium was perverted ; and that hero, 
Claimed as the great progenitor of Caesar, 
Who lost his wife, Creusa, while he bore 
His sire, Anchises, from the burning city ; 
Both wandered long, by foaming billows tossed 
From sea to sea ; by tempests often hurled 
On barbarous and inhospitable shores : — 
So had our Peregrinus, from his youth, 
Been oft encountered by the furious storms 
Of dire calamities, austere and rude, 
Driven from his destined way to climes remote, 
Impelled on desolate and dreary coasts. 
Inhospitably wild, obscure and bleak. 

He, too, by malady's pestiferous gales. 
Had oft been flung on Hades' gloomy verge, — 
Torpidity's dark realm, — to linger there. 
While month and years, in dull succession, rolled 
On tardy wheels, — the planetary spheres. 



* 

2 



^ . -^ ^ 

14 PEREGRINUS. 

Then were imagination's glowing fires 
Extinguished, smothered, as by Stygian damps, 
Or Lethe's exhalations ; while the powers — 
Those intellectual faculties of mind, 
By nature given — appeared inert and dead, 
By epilepsies paralyzed and slain. 

With swelling canvass oft his little bark, 
Impelled by charming breezes, had approached 
The long-sought haven where his wishes centred ; 
Whence he, with pleasure, might ascend the mount, 
The glorious mount of shedding general blessings 
On this world's citizens, our fellow-men. 
But when the imaginary promised land 
Arose in prospect to his ravished eyes, 
Then sudden, adverse, unexpected storms, 
With onset terrible, his bark impelled 
Far off from his anticipated goal. 
And buried all his prospects in the deep. 

Thus far, to satisfy the curious, give 
Brief outlines of the fortunes of his life, 
From youth's fair morning, till his cherished hopes 
Completely vanished, like the morning dews ; 
And these sole expectations now remained, — 
To glide along unnoticed and unknown, 
To make life's final exit unobserved ; 
And mingle, in oblivion, with the dust, 
Without a speaking marble o'er his bed, 
To show that Peregrinus ever lived. 



AMANDA. 15 



But, while deep plunging in oblivion's gulf, 
Then his Almighty Father interposed. 
Uplifted him ; and, through untrodden paths, 
Led him into the ministry of peace ; 
That ministry, to which, in early days. 
He felt himself to be divinely called. 

Next, in the name of his Pacific Prince, — 
That all-subduing name, — he levied war 
Against old Bigotry, infernal Queen ; 
And cruel Superstition, where she sits 
In her enchanted castle, seeming strong. 
By means of smoke and vapors hovering there, 
All which observers, viewing from abroad, 
Or from the windows of her gloomy cells, 
Deem towers impregnable, and solid walls 
Of well cemented adamantine rock. 

In this high warfare being thus engaged. 
Our soldier's steps by Providence were led 
To fair Amanda's hospitable dome, 
Whose irresistible solicitations 
Drew, from the secret treasures of his breast. 
The first narration of these early scenes. 

From Rumor's whispers having first received 
Brief intimations that his dawning life 
Was signalized by some peculiar traits 
Of thought and character, in which he stood 



16 PEREGRINUS. 



In obvious clear distinction from all others 
Of life's young actors in her opening scenes. 
She, therefore, with anxiety, demanded 
Of him the narrative which now we sing. 

To her interrogations he replied : — 
Why will Amanda urge me to reveal 
Those painful struggles of the tender heart 
Of infancy, which still, in age mature, 
Recalled by memory's realizing power. 
Bid grief, in torrents, down my cheeks to flow ? 

Though from these apparitions I recoil, 
And shudder as the gloomy phantoms rise. 
Still often does the morning of my life 
(The incipient dawn of intellectual powers) 
Revisit now my bosom ; and recall 
These variegated scenes of childhood's prime. 

Then, by young curiosity impelled, 
I looked around this habitable globe, 
Beyond what visual faculties could reach, 
52Lr as imagination could expand, 
Or new-developed mental vision seize 
On various objects painted on the brain. 
By means of auditory nerves alone. 
So far I carefully examined all. 
To learn their nature, ascertain their use. 
And know the secret workings of their cause ; 
While aspirations after knowledge high 
Were never, then, by narrow confines pent, 
Nor was imagination's glowing fire 



*- 



THE CREATOR. 17 



Stayed by contracted limits ; far abroad 

They both extended with elastic force, 

Or volatile expansion, grasping all 

Which optic vision reached, or which report, 

Through various channels, wafted to ray hearing ; — 

To Rumor's objects, and to those of sight. 

The muse innate, coeval with the mind, — 

A native romance, planted in the breast 

By Heaven's creative hand, — gave higher charms. 

And colorings of her own ; and interwove 

The scenes of nature, and the scenes of art, 

Delightfully, in her fantastic loom ; 

And ever she displayed fair Nature's forms 

In all their beauties and inherent graces, 

Their genuine, their poetic loveliness ; 

Not blemished, tarnished, sullied and obscured, 

As in the chilling air of gloomy prose. 

Then were the mental energies aroused, 

Before quiescent ; and the faculties. 

Which dormant in the little bosom lay. 

Excited into motion. I demanded. 

In secret meditations, of my spirit. 

Concerning my own being, and the means 

By which I was injected into life. 

Who turned these members 1 From what hidden power 

Have I received intelligence 1 Who gave me 

This high capacity which I possess 

For intellectual pleasures 1 Still I seek 

The Mystic Author of ray life, inquiring 
4 _ _ — ♦ 



18 PEREGRINUS. 



For him that gave me being ; gazing round 
On every quarter. — How I long to see him ! 
Though still the Great, the Wonderful Prime 

Cause 
Of being, the Creator of the world, 
Remains invisible in all my searches, 
He may be found ; — of this I feel assured. 
Perhaps he dwells beyond the rising sun : 
In oriental realms ; perhaps resides 
Beyond the blue horizon, where he sets, 
When he, retiring, leaves a darkened world ; 
Or, far above the height, which he ascends, 
To scorch us with his full meridian blaze. 

I 'm confident that my Creator lives ; 
And lives in high sublimity. Of this 
My person is a demonstration clear, 
A proof divine which nothing can refute. 

Alas ! where is he 1 Should he not pervade 
The whole creation, which is all his own, 
Surveying still the building which he formed ? 
Should he not carefully observe the ways 
Of all the tenants which he placed within ? 
Perhaps the reason that I see him not 
Is, that his person is supremely fine ; 
Preeminently purer than the wind. 
Through which I view the sky's expansive arch, 
All spangled over with unnumbered stars. 

If, in reality, this be the cause 
Why we cannot perceive him, he may still 

*- — * 



THE CREATOR. 19 



Be all around us, like the vital air 
Which we forever use, but never see. 

We feel the wind, we know his mighty power, 
What time he lashes ocean into foam. 
Then roars and bellows over all the land ; 
Makes lofty mountains tremble at his rage, 
Breaks, with tremendous crashing, solid trees, 
And dashes them with fury to the ground. 
We never see him when he madly roars ; 
We never see him in his gentler mood, 
While breathing, whispering, whistling through the 
grove. 

And does not reason teach our Maker's life 
Is far superior to the life of man ? 
Is not the vital principle retained 
Within him, as essentially his own, 
Superior to the life which he bestows'? 

Within his own serenity withdrawn, 
By infinite degrees, I fear he dwells 
Beyond the comprehension of mankind. 
Alas ! I fear that I shall ne'er behold 
The giver of my life — the Great Supreme. 
Shall never be so purified — refined — 
That I can know him. Can I be content 
While ignorant of him 1 I never can ; 
Without his knowledge I shall be unblest. 



Thus, oft, within a solitary grove, 
I, musing, sat ; or wandered to and fro 

* _ 



_ ^ 

20 PEREGRINTJS. 



Among- the trees ; while on the flowery verge 
That passes for the separating line 
Of infancy and childhood ; (not, indeed, 
As our narration has their limits drawn ; 
But as the periods by maternal lips 
Are commonly divided ;) in the garb 
Of infancy arrayed, still pondering o'er 
The variegated scenes and numerous objects 
That passed before me ; or, concerning which, 
From conversation, while those aged sires, 
Who passed their evenings oft in our abode, — 
And aged matrons with my parents talked, 
I heard incomprehensible reports. 

I mused in secret, till the swelling heart, 
With deep solicitude, with anxious cares. 
And troubled thoughts, long smothered in the breast, 
Seemed now, within it, ready to explode ; 
While queries, uttered in the passing breeze, 
Found no solutions. Then I dared to seek 
That information from my teacher's lips 
So long desired in vain ; and then revealed, 
With caution, these emotions of the soul, — 
Emotions long by diffidence concealed. 

Then first did our maternal guide perceive 
The fervent aspirations of her child ; — 
His aspirations after sacred knowledge. 
Creation's general science ; first discerned 
His anxious, his supreme desire to know 
All Nature's Great Invisible Prime Cause, — 



*- 



* 

HIS mother's teachings. 21 

Her Author, her Controller, and her Guide ; 
His moral character, if yet discovered ; 
And, if revealed, how this will be developed, 
In his complete economy with man. 
From time's beginning to its termination. 
And in the future never ending ages. 

His teacher was all gentleness and love ; 
His kind, indulgent mother ; and, full oft. 
She, through maternal deep affection, mixed 
Caresses with her teaching ; while her eyes, 
Her visage, and her gestures, all displayed 
The emotions of a parent's throbbing heart, — 
A heart imbued with delicate sensations. 
By charming Nature, when her plastic fingers 
Arranged its fibres and supplied its nerves, 
Which issued first from her creative hand ; 
Replete with goodness, kindness, truth and love, 
Benevolence, and every social virtue. 

Although so delicate, and so refined. 
The soul of our instructress, — yet, alas ! 
She never understood the glorious truths 
Concerning Love Immense — the Love Divine, 
Which pure and holy through the Scripture flows, 
Iq rivers of salvation ; never saw 
The Tree of Life, which, in that paradise, 
Abounds with perfumes of immortal power, 
Replenishing its atmosphere with bliss, 
Inviting all mankind to eat and live. 



'f' 



- — — ^ 

22 PEREGRINUS. 



Taught in the partial system, she supposed 
That Sin and Death eternally would reign, 
Soiling and blotting our Creator's work. 
She never learned that Jesus was commissioned 
To save and rescue men from every foe ; 
To cleanse them all from sinfulness and flesh ; 
Create, in every one, a spirit pure ; 
And thus, collecting all into himself. 
At length instal them as the sons of God. 

Not dreaming of the universal power 
Of Goodness Infinite, and Love Immense, 
She still imparted, with maternal care, 
Those human doctrines which she had imbibed 
In childhood ; which she verily believed 
To be the systems of immortal truth. 
She, too, most indefatigably strove 
To lead her children all in pious ways ; 
And holy principles she ever taught. 
As far as she had knowledge : yet, alas ! 
She deviated from the holy books. 
Still teaching those traditionary schemes, 
And all those dogmas, horrible and strange, 
Wherein she had herself, in early days, 
By parents kind, been educated well ; — 
By parents holy, " Orthodox," and good. 

Alas ! the bitter and unwholesome fruit, 
By sad experience we have fully proved, 
Of these instructions venomous and crude. 



<^ ^ 

HIS MEDITATIONS. 23 

Which, though transmitted from maternal lips, 
O'erwhelmed us with the blackness of despair 
And misery ; being horribly surcharged 
With all the deadly poison which proceeds 
From bigotry and superstition blind ; 
Those clerical traditions, long imposed 
On churches, by their proud, ambitious priests, 
As equal to the oracles of God. 

While standing in the vestibule of life, 
(Still in the garb of infancy arrayed, 
As in maternal dialect expressed,) 
The station of gay pleasures, airy joys, — 
The glee, the shout, the prattle, and the laugh. 
Replete with frolic, with unmeaning sports, — 
With songs, with pictures, and with flowery scenes, 
Which charm its occupiers, — deeper thoughts 
And meditations oft employed the mind 
Of this young object of our humble theme, 
For whose adventures, lady, you have called. 
Even there his intellectual powers awoke 
To vast exertions, — labors seldom tried 
By men of faculties and years mature. 
For, thence his mental energies essayed 
To flit around this habitable globe. 
To hover round the scenes of human life, 
And thence imbibe instructions. He observed, 
Among earth's varied animated forms. 
Myriads of individuals like himself 



* 

24 PEREGRINUS. 



In their specific shapes ; though differing much 

In age, size, texture, qualities and mould : — 

Myriads of beings of the human race, 

Who till the ground, who navigate the seas, 

Who ply commercial, or mechanic arts. 

In towns or cities ; — who devote their time, 

To medicine, theology, the laws. 

Or legislation ; similar, perhaps. 

In passions ; varying only in degrees ; — 

They being in their temperament unlike. 

And in their general training ; — fashioned oft 

By circumstances, — the strong influence 

Of education, — the prevailing notions 

Of people round them, and the general aspect 

Viewed in their country ; — these asunder lead 

Into diverging courses, and create 

A strange diversity of human kind. 

Nor solely Man attracted his survey. 
Nor did he reason of our race alone ; 
But all inferior animals observed. 
And marked those evidences of design. 
Of knowledge, wisdom, and creative skill, 
Which stand, with shining characters, displayed 
In all their members, and in all their forms ; 
With those abounding and appropriate means, 
Provided for the sustenance of all. 
On earth, or in the seas ; while every sort 
Is nicely fitted to its mode of life. 

Nor did he overlook, in this survey. 



't'- 



«* 

THE OCEAN. 25 

That many a species in the brutal world 
Is made subservient to the use of man ; 
Who, by his nobler intellectual powers, 
Protects the feeble, and subdues the strong. 
With admiration, day and night, he viewed,. 
The heavens' expanded canopy above ; — 
Replete with glorious systems ! he observed 
The variegated landscape here below ; — 
Earth's charming surface, with her numerous hills, 
Whence living waters flow ; her fertile vales ; 
Her shady forests ; her extensive plains ; 
Her mountains proud, which lift their heads on high, 
And look serenely over all the clouds ; 
Her streams, her rivers, and her flowing seas, 
Now decked with beauty, — now in terrors clad. 
And threatening wild destruction. These he viewed 
As ornaments and glories of the world. 

Next, in imagination, he surveyed 
The realms of Ocean, — his unfathomed depths 
Of waters, — fruitful of unnumbered tribes 
Of finny creatures ; where the ponderous whale 
Rides, in majestic glory, through the waves, 
And high above their ridges spouts the brine. 
There fierce Leviathan, old ocean's king. 
With length enormous stretches o'er the deep. 
Or lifts above its surface numerous curves, 
By mariners afar through glasses viewed. 
As towering arcs of Neptune's rapid wheels, 
That waft his flying chariot through the flood. 



-^ 



26 PEREGRINUS. 



With admiration and sublime delight, 
He saw the lightning flashing from the clouds ; 
Heard, while tremendous thunders, growling, rolled. 
And, with harsh bellowings, shook the solid ground. 

These wondrous objects having thus observed, 
With vast astonishment, our infant's lips 
Asked, Who created these? And then was told 
That God created everything that is ; — 
He gave existence to the worlds above ; 
Heaven, earth, and ocean, too, with all their tribes, 
Confess themselves this high Creator's work ; — 
All nature sprang from his prolific will ; 
All beings, too, were fashioned by his hand. 
He reared the mountains, and he sank the vales, 
Scooped out the vast receptacles of seas, 
And poured the rivers from prolific urns ; 
With briny waters filled the ocean's bed, 
Then peopled all with every finny tribe : 
The quadruped, the reptile, fish, and bird, 
Alike by his volition were produced. 

But Man, the chief production of his power, 
Made in the image of Almighty God, 
Although created last of all his works. 
By him, was constituted lord of all. 

His curiosity, by such replies 
Excited higher, more intensely glowed ; 
Hence, quickly, to his kind informer, next 



* — — 

god's existence. 27 

He, with a palpitating heart, inquired : 
But who is God, — this Maker, — this Creator 1 
How long has he been living 1 — Where was he, 
And where his dwelling, when there was no heaven 
For him to occupy 1 What shining world 
Contains him now? — and who created him? 

His kind instructress mildly thus replied, 
(While piety and reverential awe 
Were in her tones and countenance displayed. 
As, with enunciation clear, she strove 
To solve her infant's queries, and inspire 
His mind with reverence for the Great Supreme.) 

God never was created, dearest child ! 
His essence and his life had no beginning. 
He always had existence ; and his power 
And love were always infinite as now. 
His justice was eternally the same, — 
His wisdom, knowledge, and unfailing truth, 
With all perfections, holy and divine. 

Such the Creator of this earth and heaven, 
Life's author, both for animals and men ; 
For angels holy, and for seraphs pure. 

He is essential intellect immense, — 
Is pure essential spirit ; — and he lives 
Forever, independent and alone. 

Jehovah's life is one eternal day ; 
A day not ushered in by rising morn, 
Nor destined to behold declining eve, 



28 PEREGRINUS. 



As indicating an approaching night. 
He, to this day, the never failing sun, 
With light serene and uncreated, fills 
Eternity's illimitable orb. 

Orb of eternity ! — how mortals pant. 
Heave, toil, and struggle, thee to comprehend ! 
Then pausing, with amazement overwhelmed, 
They see their noblest aspirations foiled. 

Although Jehovah's day is truly one 
Which cannot be divided into parts. 
Yet, seen as intersected by the line, 
Stamped by the wheel of intervening time, 
And through fallacious mediums viewed, it seems 
Two hemispheres immense, whose arcs combined, 
With sweep eternal, comprehend the whole ; — 
Uniting with the past, which ne'er began. 
Duration future, which will never end : 
From this bisection, — all an idle dream, — 
Of two eternities our doctors speak. 
One terming future, and the other past. 

But, did you ask me where Jehovah dwelt 
Before the heavens and earth, at his volition, 
Sprang into being ? — or, what brilliant orb 
Of glory now contains him 1 — Where he dwells, 
Far off, invisible to mortal eyes. 
That you, while seeking him, can never find him ? - 
My dear, before the birth-day of creation, 
Our God, within his own essential spirit 



eft.- 



# 

god's dwelling. 29 



Existing, filled immeasurable space, 

Forever, with interminable mind. 

Which all duration, as all space, pervades, 

And in mysterious harmony unites 

The present future with the present past ; — 

For past and future in his presence stand 

Like that which mortals style "The Present Hour." 

Our theologic teachers, while they know 
This doctrine, as a philosophic truth ; 
And while they, to the knowing and the wise, 
Declare that God's ubiquity is true — 
Is taught in Holy Scripture ; — still they speak, 
In humble style, to men of vulgar minds ; 
And, therefore, as they would accommodate 
Their feeble, narrow comprehension, say : 
God dwells in heaven, that glorious, bright abode, 
Unpierced by keen imagination ; — • there 
He fills and occupies a shining throne. 
Whose glory dazzles all the piercing eyes 
Of flaming seraphim ; who, therefore, veil 
Their faces, bowing in prostration low. 
With raptures beatific and sublime. 
They say : Heaven is Jehovah's high abode. 
This earth is but his footstool. 

Yet, though heaven — 
World of bright glories, and of joys untold — 
Is said to be the dwelling of our God, 
The realm of angels and collected saints ; 



<*>- 



30 PEREGRINUS. 



Where seraphs, gliding on their wings of flame, 

Are chanting anthems to the immortal King ; 

Regions of pure beatitude, unseen 

By mortals grovelling in this shadowy vale ; — 

Pacific land, for which apostles sighed. 

Where bliss, her dove-like wings expanding, sheds 

Felicities on all ; serene delights, 

And life-exhilarating joys : — though heaven, 

Where God Almighty's presence is displayed, 

In special glories, and effulgence pure. 

Is said to be his dwelling, you must know 

His essence has no bound, — is not confined 

By any limit, nor to any space. 

He is a Being whom the heaven of heavens 

Contains not, neither circumscribes. He fills 

Unbounded space ; and all the realms unknown 

Of vast immensity are full of God. 

His title, God Almighty, well expresses. 
To those who comprehend its definition. 
His goodness and illimitable power. 
His name, Jehovah, — his most holy name. 
Expresses an eternity of Being, 
Without a passing shadow of a change. 

He, being Author of the human race, 
In the beginning was the Sire of all. 
His grace is infinite ; — he will continue, 
Forever, father to the wise and good. 
Unchangeable in his eternal love. 
These will he bless ; — will succor, will defend them 



*- 



god's rebellious children. 31 

Against those evils which will overwhelm, 
In future life, the souls of wicked men. 



The teacher pausing here, the little child 
With tokens of astonishment, inquired, 
Is not our Maker truly sire of all ? 
And does he not continue father still 
To every one of all the human race 1 
Can this relationship of God to man 
By time and circumstances be dissolved 1 
Is not Jehovah God and Father now 
To good and evil ones, — to all mankind? 



No, dearest one, his teacher quick replied ;— 
Vile people surely cannot be the children 
Of our Creator, of the living God ; — 
Though, by creation, all, at first, were his. 
All were his progeny ; — for all were made 
In likeness of the great Immortal King ; — 
The King Eternal. Sinners, by transgression, 
Have lost his image. These are not his offspring, ■ 
They 've all become the children of his foe, — 
All enemies of good , — the sons of evil. 
If all were holy, pious, just, and wise. 
He, truly, then, would be the father still 
To all the members of the human race. 
But men are sinful : — they will not obey 
The mandates of the universal Lord. 
They disregard his precepts ; — they renounce 



<»- 



— c^ 

32 PEREGRINUS. 



And scorn his sacred truths ; — they break his laws ; 
They madly 'gainst his government rebel. 

But, mother ! what will be the last result, — 
The final issue ; — what the closing scene 
Of this rebellion ; — fraught with magic power 
To metamorphose thus the sons of God ; — 
To new-create them, children of his foe? 

My son, these rebel children will receive. 
From their almighty, wise, and righteous Judge, 
The terrible — though just and due — reward 
Of their demerit, — of their foolish deeds. 
If men forsake their God, — their father scorn, 
His precepts slighting, — he will cast away 
These sons of disobedience and of pride ; 
In wrath, he righteously will give them up 
To their own evil hearts and erring minds, 
The guidance of imaginations vain, 
Till their pernicious ways in darkness end. 
They having plunged deep in the noisome gulf 
Of horrors, miseries, tormenting pains, 
Despair, and irremediable woes ; — 
Their wretched choice forever to bewail. 

Dear mother ! — how my very soul is grieved 
For these poor sinners ! — Cannot grandsire find, 
By all the wisdom which he keeps in store. 
Some means by which we may convince them all 
Of their wrong doings ; and by which induce 



-# 



^ 

THE DESTINY OF THE GOOD. 33 

The whole of them to leave their wicked courses, 
Embrace the truth, and walk in righteous ways — 
In paths, which in beatitude will end ? 
But next I fervently desire to know 
What special favors God has in reserve 
For those who love him and revere his will, 
Keep lall his statutes, and are always good. 

My dearest child, you mayjbe well assured, 
The Lord most holy will forever bless 
Such people as are pious in the worship 
Of God omnipotent, creation's Sire, — 
The King of angels ; — such as, being just 
In all their dealings, still preserve the truth 
Unsullied in their intercourse with men. 
These will he guide, defend, console, direct ; — 
Will cheer and strengthen them, while life remains ; 
And, when their flesh, decaying, turns to dust, 
And their freed spirits, which can never die. 
Forsake their fragile tenements of earth, 
And soar away to regions far remote. 
Beyond the sun, — beyond the starry skies. 
These pure immortal souls will he receive 
To dwell forever with himself in heaven, — 
The realm of perfect blessedness ; — to join 
The sacred anthems of celestial choirs ; — 
To chant the praises of Almighty God, 
In highest ecstacies of perfect joy. 
There will they join with patriarchs, prophets, saints. 



-«> 



34 PEREGRINUS. 



Apostles, angels, in societies 

Of holy orders and of holy names, 

(Unknown to mortals sojourning below,) 

Whose mutual pleasures nothing can alloy. 

For these, celestial love forever flows, 

In purest rivers of immortal life. 

There will they be, with garments white, arrayed, 

By heaven's own prince, Messiah: — they will shine 

Like seraphs ; and will be as blessed as they. 

But, ah ! the wicked ! — what a dire reverse I 
How terrible must be the sinner's doom ! 
What awful punishments await them all ! — 
A contrast horrible must be surveyed. 
While briefly treating of the sinner's doom. 
When these expire, their lost immortal souls. 
To God ascending, quivering, shuddering, stand 
Before his dread, inexorable bar. 
To hear their final destiny pronounced ; — 
To hear the sentence which will them consign 
To horrors and unutterable woes. 
Then, with amazing anguish, they will sink 
Deep into hell, — a black and noisome pit, 
The realm of inconceivable despair, — 
A raging furnace, which with fury burns — 
Of vast dimensions, and unceasing flames. 
While yet their thundering condemnation sounds, 
Reverberating from the vault of heaven. 
With deafening echoes, through those upper worlds, 

* ^ 



FATE OF THE WICKED. 35 

They, from the skies with flaming vengeance driven, 
Pursued with lightning to the verge of night. 
Where, with perpetual sway, confusion reigns, 
Are plunged in darkness ; till infernal bands 
Of fierce and cruel beings, full of rage, — 
Known by the name of Devils and of fiends, — 
With fury seize upon these wretched souls, 
And with malignant bowlings o'er their prey. 
Drag them, loud shrieking, to the dark abyss, 
Whose wild, mysterious horrors far transcend 
The strongest powers of mortal to conceive. 
These fiends will plunge them into burning seas, — 
A world of liquid fire, prepared of old 
For Satan and his angels, when, at first. 
Through their rebellious haughtiness, they left 
The holiness of their primeval state. 
And into realms of purity and bliss 
Inducted wrath, iniquity, and sin. 
For these Omnipotence prepared the lake, 
Whose fires on never wasting brimstone live, 
Forever burning, and are never quenched ; 
Deep into this black region devils hurl, 
With taunts and sneers, the ghosts of wicked men, 
And long torment them for their heinous sins. 

Here paused our teacher, and surveyed her child. 
That queries might be interposed by him, 
Or difliculties stated : — but, alas ! 
He spoke not ; — for unutterable grief 

4 . <». 



_ # 

36 PEREGRINUS. 

Had plunged into his breast her vulture fangs ; — 
Had rent the fibres of Ris quivering heart, 
And through his nerves her venom had diffused. 

His parent saw, and rapidly exclaimed, — 
What ails my darling now ? — what makes him ill ? — 
How his lips quiver ! — how his colors change ! 
Oh ! how he trembles ! — he will surely fall 
Before I reach him ! — Oh ! my child will die ! — 
How his heart palpitates ! — his bosom swells ! 
Bring vt^ater ! — how he heaves and pants for breath ! — 
Bring water, Sarah, quick ! — bring water, quick ! 
Will you bring water? — is he — is he — dead? 

He breathes again ! — he breathes ! — yes ; he will 
live ! 
Dear creature ! — through heaven's mercy, he revives. 
He is not, by this indiscretion, lost, 
As I suspected ; though it did appear 
That I, by this, had really slain my child. 

I find I 've been too hasty, — gone too far ; 
Too deeply painted those horrific scenes 
Of judgment, vengeance and infernal woes. 
I plainly see that I began too soon 
To show him all the terrors of the law. 
As thundered from Mount Sinai's fiery top ; 
Which Israel's numerous congregated hosts 
Had not, of old, the firmness to abide. 



^ ^ 



SYMPATHETIC EMOTION. 37 

It was too early to communicate 

This awful doctrine to his tender heart. 

I now perceive that I should have deferred 

A while the dire instruction, till his mind, 

His strength and judgment, should have been matured. 

Preparing him for these tremendous truths, 

Which even adults with grief and terrors hear. 

She spoke ; — and suddenly two gushing streams 
Flowed copiously from her maternal eyes, 
And laved the bosom of her tiny charge, — 
Her only son, — chief object of her hope, 
Anticipations, and assiduous cares. 
Her pupil, too, experienced sweet relief 
To his o'erburdened spirits, as he caught, 
By nature's sympathy, the melting passions 
Which now his teacher's sentiments controlled ; 
Emotions intermingled, undefined, 
Which as a deluge in her bosom flowed. 
Her delicate sensations were, anon. 
Within his soul reflected ; while his brain 
Was in a corresponding flood dissolved, — 
The flood of intermingled grief and love. 
Thus were his spirits soothed, his strength renewed ; — 
New vigor was excited in his nerves. 
And lost articulation thus restored. 

He, being thus renewed, again applied 
To his instructress ; and again he sought 



<%> — — —^ 

38 PEREGRINUS. 

For information to relieve the doubts 

And difficulties of his laboring mind, 

Concerning maxims, which to him appeared 

Unjust, unmerciful, and most absurd ; — 

Those cruel doctrines by his parents taught, 

With deep solemnity, as sacred truths. 

Is this reality, or but a dream. 

The frightful lecture, that I seemed to hear 

From lips maternal, from my pious guide? 

Oh ! what terrific, what enormous scenes 

Of vengeance, misery, cruelties and wrath. 

Are now flung open and o'erwhelm the mind ! 

Amazement seized me, — horrors overflowed me, — 

Which all my senses and my reason drowned. 

I never, never, could have once imagined 

Such awful scenes as now have been described 

Would ever in the universe be known. 

True, she informs me wicked folks deserve, 
By their abominable evil deeds. 
These cruel punishments ; — these torturing pains. 
In fiery seas, by fiends tormented there, 
Who swell their anguish, and increase the flames. 

She still informs me that Almighty God, 
According to his sovereign pleasure, made 
All kinds of beings in heaven, earth or hell. 
But can she tell me why the Great Supreme 
Created an abominable race 
Of wicked men ? Why did he not create them 



#- 



INQUIRIES CONCERNING GOD. 39 

All pure and righteous ; — so that none at all 

Should be tormented, being dragged away 

From heaven, through darkness tangible, to hell, 

And plunged by devils into burning seas'? 

Her lips informed me of this odious race 

Of vile tormenting devils. — Who are theyl 

What is their nature? and from whence derived? 

And what have sinners ever done to them, 

Which has excited their infernal spite 

Against these hapless victims of despair? 

Why should they drag poor quivering souls away, 

Then plunge them headlong into burning floods. 

And long torment them for their heinous sins? 

Will not hell-flames torment these devils tpo ? 

Have they capacities for bearing fire 

In hell, unscathed by its tremendous heat ? 

Were they created fire-proof at the first? 

Or, have they since became inured to flame? — 

By whom were these tormenting devils made? 

Did he that made the seraphs of the skies 
According to his own eternal will, 
Make devils tool — why make such horrid creatures'^ 
Are these of any kind of use to him ? 
Did he design them, when he willed their being, 
For this vile office of tormenting sinners? 
Were they made officers for executing 
His sentence on the wretches thus condemned 
To suffer all the miseries of hell ? 

If I were able to create a world. 



40 PEREGRmUS. 

I 'd have no devils, and no wicked men, — 
No fiends, no demons ; — all that I vv^ould make 
Should be upright, benevolent and just : 
If I, like God, possessed Almighty povi^er, 
I 'd make them perfect all, without a stain. 

Why did Omnipotent Jehovah make 
Such evil beings to defile his works ? 
Why force them into being, if their lives 
Must be to them tormenting living curses? 

To these interrogations of her child, 
Proposed in deepest anguish of the soul, 
Which animated them with thrilling force, 
His pious teacher, deeply moved, replied : 
My son, 'tis difficult to solve your doubts, 
Involving mysteries hidden and abstruse. 
The secret counsels of the Omniscient mind, 
Which oft are covered from seraphic gaze. 
Besides, what numerous queries, all at once, 
Are flung before me in chaotic mass ! 
While several of your questions, I confess, 
Too hard for me to answer. We should trust, 
With meek and humble confidence, in God ; 
Since we cannot expect to comprehend, 
To perfect satisfaction, while on earth. 
All his mysterious ways. Let this suffice, 
To learn that he is most completely just ; 
Is infinitely holy, wise and good ; 
Is perfect in benevolence and truth : 



^ 

MYSTERY OF GOD's JUDGMENTS. 41 

This clearly in the Bible is revealed, 
Hence are we certain he can do no wrong : 
This knowledge ought to satisfy the mind, — 
'T is quite enough for mortals here below. 

Of course, the judgments of the Almighty King, 
To his poor creatures, often seem obscure ; 
And hence it is impossible for man 
To see the rectitude of all his ways. 
Still, though to human amaurotic eyes, 
While covered with mortality's dark veil, 
Black, dismal clouds this government involve — 
The vast economy of God Most High ; — 
Though lurid vapors hover round his steps, 
While yet advancing toward the grand result. 
Which shall with never-fading glories crown 
His judgments, and his dealings with mankind ;-^ 
These are surrounded with horrific gloom 
To those who would explore them ere the day 
For this complete development arrive. 

Now, though it far surpasses all the skill 
Of wisest doctors of the Christian church, 
Or brightest sages, now to reconcile 
These seeming inconsistencies, — 'tis wrong, — 
'T is criminal, — for mortals to suspect 
The truth and justice of Almighty God. 
His sayings all are faithfulness and truth ; 
His ways are equal, and his judgments right. 



«^- 



42 PEREGRINUS. 



You ask me, why Jehovah did create 
Such wicked men and women : — I reply, 
He did not make them wicked ; — they have fallen 
From the perfection of the high estate 
In which they were created and installed, 
By their great Father, when the world began. 

When God created man, he made him pure, 
From all iniquities entirely free ; 
Imbued with no propensity for sin ; 
A constituted image of his Lord ; 
In knowledge and in holiness complete. 

The great progenitor of human kind, 
When he first issued from his Maker's hand, 
Such, and so glorious, as we have described, 
Was stationed in a fruitery, prepared 
By Heaven's munificence for his abode ; 
With all accommodations fitted well 
For holy pleasure, happiness and joy. 
His consort was created like himself, 
With knowledge, righteousness, and truth endued ; 
A meet companion, and appropriate help 
For man, not destined to abide alone. 
In this enchanting region of delight, 
This realm of pure beatitude and peace. 
Long would this couple have continued blest 
And happy ; — they no sorrows would have known, 
Still growing purer, and still more refined, — 

^ —4' 



««>- 



THE FALL OF MAN. 43 

More holy, more seraphic, more divine ; — 

Till fitted well to be from earth removed 

To heaven above, where God, their father, reigns ; — 

The realms of glory, and the worlds of light, 

Where life forever blooms, and never fades ; — 

Bright orbs revolving round Jehovah's throne, 

Warmed and irradiated with the beams 

Of beauty, love, and sempiternal grace, 

Which thence in blissful emanations flow. 

Such our first parents were, in that estate 
Wherein they were created : — such, indeed, 
Their numerous progeny had still remained, 
Now and to all eternity the same, — 
All sinless, and all happy ; — but the fall 
Has dashed poor human nature in the mire ; — 
Has plunged it deep into the noisome pit 
Of follies, of pollution, and of sin, 
From that high eminence in which it stood, 
In Godlike immortality and bliss ; 
Has ruined, sullied, and defiled the same, 
In all its faculties, and all its powers ; 
And, voiding it of goodness, left it filled 
With dire corruption. Hence, now man is born. 
And enters life, at enmity with God, 
Abiding under his Creator's curse 
And condemnation, — justly now his due ; 
Transmitted downward from his earliest sire, 
A legal and hereditary weight 
Of sad demerit, forfeiture, and pains. 
— — — <» 



44 PEREGRINUS. 



In this condition every child of man 
(His state of nature ever since the fall) 
Continues, till death's stiff and icy hand 
Cong-eals the vital current ; frees the soul 
From earth, and seals its everlasting doom ; 
If not by force supernal and divine 
At length arrested in his evil course. 
And all his nature's sinful current changed. 

My dearest child, w^ill you remember this, 
As fundamental in the Christian faith : 
That, as man thus polluted enters life. 
Born heir to sorrow, misery, and death, 
A living death of long-protracted w^oes. 
In this condition he must still remain, 
Till his unrighteous heart is formed anew ; 
Till he is changed from nature into grace ; 
Is thus regenerated, — thus new-born, — 
By water, spirit, and redeeming blood ; 
Then registered within the book of life, 
An heir of glory, and a child of God. 

This infant, here, unable to restrain 
The swelling billows in his troubled soul, 
With heart near bursting, interrupted thus 
Her pious lecture, and, with grief, replied : 
Dear mother, I beseech you to vouchsafe 
Permission to propose some question here. 

When earth was in her blooming vernal state, 
Was in the morning of the human race ; 

««• * 



^ 

EFFECTS OF THE FALL. 45 



When two alone had being, — man and wife, — 

And those two perfect ones, (for, you informed me, 

These two first people, both alike, were perfect 

In truth and goodness,) how could these contrive, — 

And how could they desire, — to perpetrate 

Those heinous deeds, by which they have defiled 

Themselves, becoming quite as black as those 

Tormenting, hideous fiends whom you described? 

How could they change their natures, thus deforming 

The likeness of their Maker, and assuming 

An image wholly opposite to his 1 — 

The likeness (I suppose) of demons dwelling 

In suffocating floods of burning sulphur. 

But ah ! the consequences of their deeds ! — 

Alas ! for their effect on future ages ! 

All generations ruined by their doings ! 

Far more astounding mystery this involves 

Than perfect, holy ones committing sin, 

And their own ruin as the dire result. 

And must all human beings feel the weight, 

The horrid weight, of their first parent's crime ? 

This is not equity : — this is not right : 

Men should not suffer by their father's work, 

As criminals : they, for another's fault, — 

Unknown to them, — should never be condemned 

As felons. Oh ! I cannot bear to think 

That with his creatures God has managed thus. 

He pausing, his instructress briefly said : 
The first man was progenitor of all, 



-* 



46 PEREGRINUS. 



And SO their constituted federal head — 
The legal agent for the human race. 

Her pupil answered : But did all consent 
For him to represent their moral lives ; — 
That he, by his transactions, might involve 
The human race in wretchedness and guilt ? 
Why should I, without mercy, be chastised, 
For acts of felony, however base. 
Committed in my absence, long before 
I had a being in the universe ? 
Ah ! — this is more than mystery : — 't is wrong ; • 
'Tis rank injustice ! I am very sure 
That I was not accessory at all 
To that offence, because I was not there, 
Nor with the offenders had communication. 
I 'm certain, likewise, had I been alive. 
And present, where those authors of our race 
First acted that abominable scene. 
That I would absolutely have refused 
To join the party, and to disobey 
The statutes of the universal King. 

She said : Of this you never can be sure ; 
While by temptations you are still untried, 
Be not too confident. 

The child continued : 
But did I, by this one transgression, fall 1 
And am I ruined by another's crime 1 
A disobedience, which I never wrought, 
Of laws and precepts which I never heard 1 



* 

EFFECTS OF THE FALL. 47 



My son, what demon causes you to sin? 
What subtle and infernal enemy 
Disturbs your quiet, making you distrust 
Your heavenly father's love 1 

The child proceeds : 
It seems impossible to me, that two, 
By sinful conduct of whatever grade, 
Though deep and venomous as floods of hell, 
Could make all nations wretched. Do explain. 

My son, what frenzy fastens on your mind? 
Leave these dark topics all for life mature, 
And listen to the words of gospel truth, 
Which I will teach you. 

He continues still : 
Do tell what influence their transgression has 
On ages many a thousand years remote 
From this dark period of their base revolt : 
Do tell me what invention was achieved 
To ruin all posterity, by pouring 
Its deadly, withering venom through the stalk 
To distant branches, — even its latest shoots. 
Tell how the poison still retains its power, 
Till this creation reach its final age, 
When Time, exhausted with his labors, sinks 
In ruins, and forever disappears. 

He paused. His teacher gave him no reply, 
While panting with anxiety he stood 
Awaiting her solutions of his doubts. 



«*• — — <*• 

48 rEREGRlNFS. 



Then he, perceiving that he looked in vain 

For explications of these awful themes, 

Which might relieve him, and assuage his grief, 

Renewing his interrogations, said : 

Dear mother, I beseech you, let me know, 

(Since you declare it is the living truth,) 

How millions could be implicated thus 

In all the consequences of a deed 

Of trespass, criminality, and guilt. 

Done and transacted many thousand years 

Before they once had breathed the vital air. 

This strange idea has ruined all my peace, 

Inflicting pangs which I cannot endure. 

Will mother please to dissipate the gloom 

Spread o'er this subject? — will she make it plain? 

And will she next reply to what before 

Was asked, and which unanswered still remains? 

How people, whom the Lord created pure 

At first, and made them holy, just, and true. 

Good, wise, and perfect, could desire to sin. 

To these inquiries, then, his teacher kind. 
With agitation visible, replied : 
My son, forbear ; the Almighty's ways are strange. 
Dark and mysterious, — cannot be explained 
To mortals, poor inhabitants of earth. 
But, as I said before, we must confide 
In his eternal faithfulness and truth. 
Believing that his counsels all are right. 



_ ^ 

EFFECTS OF THE FALL. 49 

Although we cannot understand them now. 
I will inform you what has been revealed 
In Holy Scripture, in the precious book 
Which God Almighty graciously has given 
To sinful mortals here, — a perfect guide, 
For their direction, while they travel on 
Through this dark wilderness, with devious paths, 
And leaders false, abounding, aiming still 
To draw their footsteps, wandering far astray 
From peace and virtue, from the way of life. 
With these instructions, from the Bible drawn, 
My little child must learn to be content ; 
For what Jehovah has resolved to leave 
Enveloped with impenetrable gloom. 
We may not seek to fathom or explore. 
With patient confidence, we must submit 
To our Creator. Secret things belong 
To him alone, — he can do nothing wrong. 

Here Peregrinus interposed again, 
Athirst for information ; while respect, 
With love and reverence, in his bosom glowed, 
For his instructress — though with fear oppressed 
Of grieving, or perhaps offending her, 
By his interrogations, haply seeming 
Impious, to her, impertinent and strange. 

Dear mother, I do fervently desire, 
If possible, your precepts to observe. 
I would not, for the whole creation, grieve 

— <^ 



50 PEREGRINUS. 



The friend, the guardian of my tender years. 

Hence, certainly, I never will neglect, 

In full observance, as a rule of life, 

One saying, which can possibly be kept, 

Proceeding from her kind maternal lips. 

But now she has commanded me to trust 

In God's eternal faithfulness and truth. 

Believing that his precepts all are right ; 

She bids me, in ray very heart, believe 

That he is all benignity and grace. 

All love and goodness ; — then advances proofs 

As to my feeble understanding seems. 

In all she of his character reveals, 

Of wrath and vengeance, — opposite extremes 

To those essential attributes of God. 

I will observe, as far as in my power, 

All these instructions she has given me now ; 

And when I find his general dealings good. 

As manifested to the sons of men, 

I certainly will trust him for the rest. 

Fain would I find my great Creator such 
That I could love him with a fervent soul, 
Without the least suspicion to detract 
From this affection, or its zeal diminish ; 
Without the least suspicion of his truth, 
His justice, and his universal love ; — 
Such goodness as 1 should expect to find 
In Deity. But how can I confide 
In him, before I have one single proof 



*- 



^ ^ 

I LOVE TO GOD. 61 

Of his impartial equity divine ? 

How can I love a being such as this, 

In whom I cannot find a single trait 

Of goodness and benevolence displayed ? 

How can I love him, while forever dealing 

In cruelties and vengeance with mankind 1 

Is cruelty an object for my love ? 

Can I, by any means, compel my heart 

To clasp an object in its pure embrace 

From which my sensibilities recoil ? 

A character so terribly severe. 

My bosom heaves and sickens at the thought? 

O that our Maker were as truly good 
As our kind parents ! — I should him revere, 
And love him, also, with a fervent soul, 
As every day we love our mother now. 
But why do I love her 1 Because I know 
She is, forever, worthy of my love. 
Her love attracts me, while it kindles mine. 
I know she is benevolent to all. 
But, surely, I possess unfailing proofs 
That she loves me ; while every day she strives 
To make me happy ; she, with tender care. 
In sickness, watches over me ; she weeps 
When I am in affliction ; but she smiles 
When I am pleased and happy ; while her joy 
By fond embraces often is expressed. 
And delicate caresses ; proving thus 
Her love to me, and both my sisters, too. 



52 PEREGRINUS. 



Now while her kindness thus is every day- 
Made visible, love fills our little hearts ; — 
With filial love our throbbing bo^ms glow. 

And, through attractions similar to these, 
We all revere and love our father, too. 
When dealing with his neighbors, he observes 
Strict justice ; but, in every dubious case, 
Gives them advantage of the doubtful points. 
He always sympathizes with the grief 
Of poor, afflicted ones ; — the destitute 
Find ever an asylum in his house ; — 
And their necessities are all supplied. 
But we are special objects of his care ; 
He loves the family ; and ever toils 
For means to satisfy their daily wants. 

Does not such goodness captivate and charm 
The soul with irresistible attractions 1 
Does she not, with her atmosphere of love 
Enveloped, sweetly guide her wilhng subjects, 
With pleasure, with ineffable sensations 
Of holy rapture in their willing minds — 
Love's captives being most divinely free. 

O ! did such kindness dwell in my Creator, 
As fervently I 'd love him ; my devotion 
Would still increase with more discovered goodness. 
If like his might were his paternal love 
Supreme and infinite, I would adore him 
With all my powers and faculties of soul, 



god's love to man. 53 

With all the spirit, and with all the mind. 
O, prove to me his goodness : this alone 
Will kindle in my breast the living flame, — 
The love that many waters cannot quench, 
Though deep, cold deluges should overflow me. 

He would have added more ; but his instructress 
Here, interrupting his discussion, said, — 

My dear, I 've frequently, before this, told you 
That God is infinite in love and goodness. 
As well as power. Why will you not believe ? 
Confess it now ; then worship and adore him. 

The child continues : Truly this I know, 
My parent, teaching me concerning him. 
Declares him righteous and divinely good ; 
But, ah ! what specimens she lays before me ! 
What awful samples of paternal love ! 
She says, — if I have comprehended right, — 
That he was Father, once, to all mankind, — 
That he is our Creator and our King ; 
That, if in happiness we seek to dwell 
Eternally in heaven, we must adore 
And love this Deity, with all our might. 
With all our spirits, and with all our souls : 
For thus alone his favor is procured. 
And only thus he can be reconciled 
To his poor children, who are all abased, 
Degraded, ruined, by another's fall. 



5* 



54 PEREGRINUS. 



Still more astonishing, I heard her say, 

That all who love not this Creator now 

By him will be delivered, after death, 

To fierce tormentors — vile, insulting fiends ; 

To devils, who will drag their souls away 

To hell, a lake of never ceasing fire, 

Then plunge them headlong into burning seas, 

To be tormented for their want of love 

To God, the mighty Author of their woes ; 

To God, who made them creatures of his will, 

With such propensities by him endued 

As seemed well pleasing to his sovereign mind. 

Hush ! little railer ! do not thus accuse 
Your great Creator, Giver of your life, 
And Author of your being. You blaspheme. 

The child : — Is he not author of their woes, 
Since all their faculties by him were given, — 
Their qualities of spirit and of flesh. 
Their sentiments, their intellects, with all 
That appertains to wretched mortals here, — 
Well knowing all the horrible results 
Of these propensities which he bestowed ? 

Must we be tortured in a fiery lake, 
For want of love to that tremendous power 
Who gave our being but to please himself, 
Yet makes that being one perpetual curse 1 

My child , I hear you with amazing fears, 
With apprehensions of some dire result 
Of this strange bias of your infant mind. 



INQUIRIES CONCERNING GOD's LOVE. 55 

Why will you speculate on things so deep, 
Beyond the sounding of created line 1 

But I will hear you now, for once. Proceed ; 
Unbosom all the sorrows of your heart, 
In secret, to your mother's listening ear. 

I thank you, madam, for this kind indulgence ; 
Of which I must avail myself; still hoping 
That I shall not in this abuse your goodness. 

And now I must inquire, with your permission, 
Can love from dismal horrors take its rise ? 
Can this by cruel vengeance be inspired ? 
Can folks be frightened into love divine 
By cruel devils, and tormenting fiends 1 
My parent has commanded me to love 
Almighty God, the universal King, 
The Father both of angels and of men, 
And, as appears to me, of devils too ; 
The great Creator and the sovereign Lord 
Of beings which in heaven and earth exist, 
Or underneath, in that infernal deep. 
The realm of horrors, torments and despair. 
What she commands me I desire to do. 
With fervent, inexpressible desires, 
I wish, through her instructions, to discern 
Some lovely attributes in God. I long 
To find him kind, affectionate and good ; 
To all his creatures merciful and just. 
His goodness then would renovate my soul, 



56 PEREGRINUS. 



And cause me to adore him all my life. 
But cruelty, with her repulsive mien, 
Chills my affections and excites disgust 

Still, notwithstanding all that I have learned 
Concerning God's unjust and cruel ways, 
Some feeble, some almost expiring hope, 
Within my quivering bosom still remains, 
In favor of our great, immortal Sire — 
That future seasons will in him discover. 
When his true character shall be revealed. 
Such amiable traits as will excite 
My admiration, and attract my love. 

I, therefore, now request you to rehearse 
The whole long narrative which you commenced 
Before, of man's creation, and the fall 
Of our first parents from the glorious state 
Of perfect holiness in which they stood. 
When newly fashioned by their Maker's hand. 

But, most of all, I now desire to know 
Why God omnipotent created man ; 
What the prime object which could him induce 
To give new being to the human species. 

He pausing, quickly his instructress said, — 
My dear, according to our great divines, 
Jehovah's highest end, in forming man, 
Was this : that he might glorify his God, 
And thus eternally enjoy his love. 



OBJECT OF man's CREATION. 57 

O ! cried her pupil, — this was truly good ! 
This was an object worthy of his name ! 
These are delightful tidings ! I rejoice, 
On ascertaining this important cause. 
That, in his long eternity of bliss. 
First interrupted his serene repose, 
Inducing him to undertake the plan 
Of man's creation ; raising into life 
New objects of his providential care. 
God is a Father infinitely kind. 
All other suppositions are mistakes. 
xA.ll his designs are infinitely good ; 
Omnipotent volition never fails : 
All kinds of ill must, therefore, be dissolved ; 
War, hatred, strife and enmity will die ; 
And all mankind will live in perfect bliss. 
For, if our Maker's knowledge, power and skill, 
Are vast as all the immensity of space, 
And comprehend eternity's duration. 
We know his chief intention will succeed ; 
Nor can his minor purposes be lost. 
Hence, man at length will glorify his God, 
As one made worthy of his Maker's love, 
And in his favor be forever blest. 
All human beings will at last arrive 
At this sublimity of joy ; will rise 
To pure beatitude, as yet unknown, 
And bask forever in their Father's smiles. 



<%> <%> 



— ♦ 

58 PEREGRINUS. 



Since I am happy in Jehovah's love, 
I, therefore, now desire to hear you sing 
A tuneful anthem to our Maker's praise, 
In Sapphic measure, which my soul admires ; 
Or some delightful hymn of Isaac Watts, 
Replete with tender mercies and with love, 
With glory! hallelujah! interlined. 
These songs would open heaven ; and I should rise 
Above, and enter, there to feel and see 
The high beatitude of perfect life. 
Where life and love immortal are the same. 

Our mild instructress, having kissed her child. 
With smiles and tears commingled, love and grief 
Conspicuous in her most expressive mien, 
Thus, in reply, with hesitation, spoke : 

My son, it grieves me here to interrupt 
Your tide of pleasure, while it sweetly flows 
From your construction of my brief reply 
To your inquiries, when you wished to know 
The Almighty's object in creating man. 
I see that your deductions, seeming fair 
To human thoughts, not understanding well 
The mystic premises on which they build. 
Have kindled living ecstacies of joy 
Within your bosom, and have banished grief. 

O I with what pleasure would I nourish still 
This new-discovered fountain of delight, 



-^ 



# <%, 

A mother's prayer. 59 

If truth and Christian principles allowed! 
But we have not authority from God 
To use our carnal reason, and infer 
By human logic maxims not expressed 
In that undeviating rule of faith, 
The Holy Bible, which is all inspired. 

Now, if by reasoning we may not arrive 
At new conclusions, howsoever plain 
The consequences to the mind appear, 
When not expressly stated in the Book, 
Much less may we presume to contradict. 
By inference, the doctrines written there. 

The penal sanctions of Jehovah's law, — 
Those awful doctrines I before explained, — 
There stand as God's immutable decrees : 
All these, assuredly, we must receive. 
However painful to the carnal mind. 

But now my household business calls me hence : — 
I go, my son, and leave you to reflect 
On those instructions which, with earnest care, 
Into your tender bosom I have poured. 

O may the eternal Ruler of the world, 
My child o'ershadowing with immortal grace, 
In his abounding mercy, now bestow 
On him sufficiency of mental strength 
And courage to receive his awful truths. 
May God exalt and purify your heart. 
And noble firmness to your soul impart, 



60 PEREGRINUS. 



Enabling you, in spirit, to receive 

These holy principles, which saints believe. 

For this you never must forget to pray : — 
The Lord will hear what you, in private, say ; 
He graciously will answer your request, 
Bestowing consolation, joy, and rest ; 
And make you, while believing, "beyond expression 

blest." 
His spirit he will give you from above. 
And fill your heart with sanctifying love ; 
So shall you more and more in him possess 
Of knowledge, wisdom, grace, and righteousness ; 
Till you, at length, are fitted to arise 
To beatific mansions in the skies. 

There tribulations never shall annoy, 
Nor fear nor sorrows interrupt your joy, 
Divinely flowing from the throne of God, 
In streams perennial, and in rivers broad ; 
Difl^using pleasures o'er the sacred plains, 
Where, in his father's glory, Jesus reigns ; — 
Where these, united with the spirit, shine, 
Emitting rays most holy and divine ; 
Which banish darkness, and repelling night, 
Fill vast immensity with floods of light. 

These salutiferous, — these life-giving rays, 
Serenely flowing, kindle to a blaze 
Immortal ecstacies, eternal love. 
And pMre beatitude, in worlds above. 



-* 



A mother's fancies. 61 

The citizens of heaven will ne'er complain 
Of mental anguish, nor corporeal pain ; 
Still in possession of eternal peace, 
Whose beatific visions never cease. 

There will you see Jehovah's shining mien, 
And find no intercepting cloud between. 
There you will ever in the knowledge grow 
Which you so fervently desire below. 
Then God's eternal justice will appear 
Forever perfect and forever clear ; 
And you, with all the universe, will own 
The rectitude of his imperial throne. 

These impious doubts will then arise no more, 
Which here oppress you, — which I now deplore ; 
For, then, with full assurance, you will find 
Jehovah righteous, merciful, and kind ; 
Beholding still these attributes displayed 
In all which his almighty hands have made. 

I know, my precious child, these sacred themes 
By day employ your thoughts ; — I know your dreams. 
By night, are occupied with themes divine ; 
Hence oft I fancy Heaven has some design. 
Some calling high, for which he now prepares 
This little object of my zealous cares. 
To raise him far above the common lot, 
In public usefulness : so all have thought, 
Who ever viewed him with observing eyes, 
And noted how his meditations rise 
To great and holy subjects, which appear 



62 FEREGRINUS. 



Sublimely raised above the common sphere 
Of pleasures and employments which engage 
The minds of children, though of riper age. 

I hope that, through the power of sovereign grace, 
My son will benefit the human race. 
Through all the generations yet unborn, 
Henceforward, till the resurrection morn. 

O blest anticipation ! — But I still 
Have dire forebodings of some future ill 
For him that I so often have caressed. 
Clasped in my arms and nurtured with my breast. 

Now I behold in him a future saint ; — 
Now fear lest infidelity should taint, 
(Which Heaven avert !) with her unhallowed breath. 
His opening mind, infusing moral death 
Through all his intellects, and so destroy. 
By her dread influence, a mother's joy ; — 
Lest she my budding expectations blight, 
And bury all in everlasting night. 

When hope prevails, imagination high 
Anticipates the pleasures of the sky ; — 
The central haven of my fond desires. 
To which my soul, with fervent zeal, aspires. 
But when I listen to these gloomy fears, 
I wet my pillow with my flowing tears ; 
My bosom then transpierced with anguish keen, 
I almost seem to realize the scene ; — 
To see my child, misled by reasoning pride, 



BELIEF IN CHRIST. 63 

Renounce the Bible, which should be his guide ; 
Then wander into errors dark and broad, 
Deny his Saviour, and forsake his God ; — 
And there, without a beam of gospel-day, 
Forlorn, bewildered, and benighted, stray. 

On your behalf my daily prayers ascend : — 
May God omnipotent my child defend. 
His soul enlighten, and secure his head ^ 

From all those evils which his parents dread. 

May Heaven prepare him, through almighty love. 
To walk with Jesus, in the worlds above, 
In robes of his salvation, white and pure, 
Those garments which eternally endure. 

But I must leave you : when we next converse, 
The narratives desired I will rehearse : — 
First, of Creation ; next, the Fall of Man ; 
Then, of Redemption's ever blessed plan. 
Designed poor wretched mortals to restore 
To brighter glories than they knew before, — 
Made friends and brothers of the eternal Son, 
Who fought their battles, who the victory won 
For Satan's captives ; — then, ascending high, 
In triumph, rode through all the sky ; 
Pierced death and hell with mortal wounds, and then 
Received donations for the sons of men. 

Yes : our immortal Hero did receive, 
For rebels, gifts. My precious child, believe 



-* 



64 PEREGRINUS. 



In him that leads you to celestial day — 

Believe in Christ, and fling your doubts away. • 

The parent made her exit : but her child 
Forth wandered to his solitary bower, 
Alone to ponder on the doctrines taught 
By his maternal guide, through pious zeal 
To have him well instructed in the truths 
Of pure religion : (such did she believe 
The dogmas and traditions of the church, 
Those sacerdotal glosses of the Scriptures.) 

But, lady, seek not here to penetrate 
The deep recesses of his troubled breast, 
Where agonizing thoughts, conflicting, preyed 
Upon his vitals, and, with vulture fangs, 
Rent all their fibres, till they heaved and panted, 
(Like swelling earthquakes,) threatening to explode, 
Their prison-house destroying. They must lie 
Unnoted there, to Lethe's night consigned. 

Thus Peregrinus spoke. 

Amanda heard, 
With deep attention, his protracted story : 
And, as she listened, in her glowing mien 
Anxiety was pictured, with the signals. 
Changing and various, which indicate 
Intensely fervent sympathies ; expressing 
The delicate sensations of a bosom 
Replete with kindness, and with every virtue. 



■-» 



SECOND BOOK. 

Full many a leaden-footed week had gone, 
And plunged beneath the desolating flood 
Of drear oblivion, whose obscuring waves, 
With dull, heart-chilling murmurs, slowly curl 
O'er kingdoms, once the sovereigns of the earth, 
Now razed and blotted from the book of fame. 
E'en slow-revolving months had rolled away, 
Since we, in peace-destroying lectures, heard 
The sad instructions which we lately sung. 
Afflictive providences, and disease 
In our domestic circles — cumbrous weights 
Of evil fortune, (these we now consign 
To Lethe's custody — a mournful train 
Of rife catastrophes, disasters dire. 
And sad reverses of the darkest hue ;) — 
Had interdicted, with supreme command. 
The reassumption of those awful themes 
Anticipated when we parted last. 
(Of this elapse, three months our infant mourned 
The absence of his mother, far away, 

4 4' 

6* 



66 PEREGUmUS. 



And thrice that time the absence of his sire, 
By canvas-pinions wafted further still ; 
While, in his hearing, rumor had affirmed 
That o'er them both the ocean's billows rolled ; 
That, by a slimy shroud enveloped round. 
They both were sleeping in his oozy bed.) 

Within this period, all instructions given 
Were brief as mandates of the moral law, 
Engraved on marble tables, while, of old, 
With quaking, Sinai owned a present God. 
Meanwhile, reflections preyed upon the mind 
Of this poor hero of our humble muse. 
Pondering o'er all the doctrines newly learned, 
From private lectures of his good instructress, 
And deeply in his memory engraved. 
His meditations on these strange accounts 
Concerning God and angels far above, 
Of Satan and tormenting fiends below. 
Fed on his quivering vitals, day and night, 
Inducing epilepsies, whence ensued 
The rage of fevers, whose pestiferous breath 
Had wafted him upon the gloomy verge 
Of Death's dominions, dreary and obscure. 
He seemed just ready for the fatal plunge 
Beneath the unfathoraed waters of decease, 
When Heaven forbade his exit, and recalled 
His soul and spirit to the scenes of earth. 
Thus reinstated in terrestrial life. 



-# 



CONVERSATION RESU.^IED. 67 

Again he wandered through the fields and groves, 
Revolving horrid doctrines in his mind, 
By his own mother, as by others, taught ; 
And, as he pondered all her sayings o'er, 
Without cessation, bitterly he mourned, 
While thoughts terrific of an angry God 
Enveloped nature (though by Heaven adorned 
With loveliness) in garments of despair. 
As formerly, full often, he reclined 
Beneath the branches of a lofty oak 
Of vast dimensions, with expansive shade, 
To muse, in all the bitterness of grief, 
On those strange attributes of Deity 
Portrayed in doctrines by the clergy taught, 
And by his mother to his ear conveyed. 

When fit occasion once again occurred, 
To his instructress bowing, thus he spoke : — 
Dear mother, have you leisure to impart 
The instruction now for which I 've waited long, — - 
That information which I craved before, 
When we our latest conversation held, 
On holy doctrines and religious themes ? 

She said, I 've leisure : — what have you to say? 
What has my darhng further to inquire ? 
Propose your queries ; I will answer now. 
O may the Almighty Father give me grace 
To heal your bosom, solving every doubt 
With which your troubled spirit is perplexed. 



^- 



68 PEREGRINUS. 

So spake the parent ; — then, her anxious child, 
Though fearing to offend her, thus replied : 

When our kind mother last, though long ago, 
Gave me instructions, in religious things. 
With care maternal, striving to make plain 
The Almighty's dealing with our feeble race, 
I did most earnestly desire to know 
What his prime motive possibly could be, 
What his chief object, in creating man. 
She said : According to our great divines, 
The Lord's chief motive in creating man 
Was this : — that he might glorify his God, 
And so eternally enjoy his love : 
To glorify his God is man's chief end. 
And him, to all eternity, enjoy. 
This she asserted ; — had she left it here, 
What happiness were mine ! for, I conceived, 
As he is quite unlimited in power. 
And infinite in knowledge, this was sure, — 
That he would execute his chief desiorn. 
And man, hereafter, be released from all 
That is offensive to the will of Heaven ; 
That he, at length, would glorify his God, 
And through eternity enjoy his love. 
As God's unbounded knowledge grasps, at once. 
Eternity's transactions and events, 
I thought his mind could never be deceived, 
Nor he be thwarted once in his designs. 
Nor one of all his numerous counsels fail. 

<^— __ — -^ 



^ ^ 

RETROSPECT. 69 

Much less did I suppose that any power 

Could disappoint him in his greatest end, 

His chief design, when he created man ; 

For, surely, he has thrice ten thousand means, 

And thrice ten thousand times ten thousand more, 

And these ten thousand thousand times thrice told, 

(If means were needful to effect his plans,) 

By which, without exertion, he performs, 

On earth, his pleasure to the smallest jot. 

For, if his will remains unsatisfied 

Forever and forever, I am sure 

He is unhappy as the sons of men, 

I was, a while, delighted with the thoughts 

That all men would be purified from sin, 

That all mankind would be forever blest, 

That all as brothers would together dwell, 

In love, forever, in that high abode 

Of pure beatitude, and holy peace : — 

God then would be a father to us all, 

Alike the children of the Eternal King. 

But, when I ventured to express these hopes,— 
These precious hopes, replete with love divine, 
These glorious expectations, full of Heaven, — 
To her whom I, on every dubious point, 
Consult — the guardian of my infant years, 
She ruined my felicity, and rent, 
Unwillingly, my throbbing heart in twain, 
Reminding me of what she said before 
Concerning heaven above, and hell below, 

4^ _ 4> 



70 PEREGRINUS. 



The realm of glory, and the realm of woe : 

She called the last a region of despair ; 

And said, the wicked will be tortured there, 

Because they will not here obey and love 

The almighty Sovereign of the worlds above : 

Pronouncing this the truth of God most High, 

Which none but wicked infidels deny. 

Now, since those queries must be laid aside. 

With which the mind is agitated still, 

With deep emotions, not to be repelled. 

Subdued, or stifled, by created power ; 

And since my atmosphere must be obscured. 

And blackened with these most tremendous clouds ; 

And since my head must be enveloped still 

With awful and impenetrable gloom. 

Without one cheering ray of pleasing light ; — 

That information which I next desire 

Is, whether God has given us any rule 

To guide us in our pilgrimage on earth ; — 

A plain direction how to do his will. 

And thus enjoy his love and favor here. 

And be admitted into heaven, at last. 

He spoke ; — and his kind teacher then replied : 
Yes, God has given to us the holy word, 
Which, in this book — the Bible — is contained. 
In two distinct administrations given, — 
Two testaments, the Old and New ; — this book, — 
The Holy Scriptures of two covenants, — 
Which lies upon the table, you must learn 



SCRIPTURE TEACHINGS. 71 

To read discerningly, and understand. 
This, — say our fathers, — is the only rule 
That teaches us to glorify the Lord, 
And so possess, eternally, his love. 

She paused, and thus her catechumen spoke : 
Well, if the Bible is, indeed, the book 
Which God has given to mortals here below, — 
A rule sufficient to direct their lives. 
And teach them clearly all his righteous will, — 
Then I will study this large volume through. 
And treasure all its precepts in my heart : 
But will you not, dear mother, tell me, now, 
The leading doctrines which the Scriptures teach ; 
That I may glorify the Lord aright. 
And that I may his favor here possess. 
Ere yet my intellectual powers suffice 
To form the epitome which now I need ? 
What do the Scriptures principally teach? 
And on what topics do they mostly treat? 

My dear, said she, the Scriptures mostly teach 
What man is to believe concerning God ; 
And all the duties he requires of man. 

But (said the child) does Scripture teach us moie 
Concerning God than you have told me yet? 
What sort of being does the Bible say 
That God omnipotent, our Maker, is ? 

She answered. Certainly, my dearest child, 
, It says God is a Spirit. 

4 ^ 



72 PEREGRINUS. 



He replied : 
But does it tell us what a spirit is ? 

She answered, No : the holy book, indeed, 
Does not afford us, in explicit words, 
A definition of the mystic term ; 
Nor does a systematic treatise stand, 
Concerning spirits, in the sacred code : 
But from its scattered portions we infer 
A spirit is an intellectual being, 
Consisting of one essence, — only one, — 
Not of material particles composed ; 
And, though compared in Scripture to the wind, 
The finest essence known to ancient bards, — 
'T is far more subtile than the viewless air. 
Or gases in the subtile air combined : 
A being which, (mysterious in its powers, 
To man, while yet enveloped with the flesh,) 
Hears, sees, and operates, itself unseen 
By mortal beings, and by these unheard. 
In motion, never can the solar rays 
With its velocity presume to vie ; 
Which still — in this unlike the grosser wind — 
Can ne'er by human senses be perceived : 
Yet, further differing from the rays of light, 
And from the ever circulating air, 
A spirit by its own volition moves. 
To change locality, or vary speed. 
As its own pleasure may, perhaps, induce, 



EXISTENCE OF SPIRITS. 73 

Or varied circumstances may require : 

And now, if spirits filled this very room, 

Surrounding us, at once, on every side, 

With close attention noting all our ways. 

With care inspecting our incipient thoughts, 

Recording all, — to be at length displayed. 

In final judgment, to assembled worlds. 

In their invisibility unknown. 

And their intangibility unfelt. 

We should not once suspect their presence here. 

But we have now been speaking, all the while, 
Of finite spirits, — of created objects. 
Productions of the great Jehovah's will. 
These have locality : — by this, I mean 
All these are limited in time and place ; 
That is, — they only occupy, at once, 
One little portion of the universe, 
One little portion of eternity, 
Which all their numbers, howsoever great, 
(By millions rolled on billions multiplied, 
And this vast product in itself involved, 
Till raised to powers no language can express, 
Nor human mind conceive,) can never fill. 
These have mobility ; — that is, they change 
From place to place, at their own option moved : 
And in duration as they pass along, 
While periods, in their due successions, roll. 
These, of necessity, their age increase. 



74 PEREGRINUS. 



Great are these beings, past conception great ; 

But were their glories all combined as one, 

This glorious one were infinitely less, 

In all things, than the whole creation's Sire, 

The mystic object whom you seek to know. 

Of whom, with awful reverence, next we speak. 

God is a Spirit infinite ; — and none 
(Nor men nor spirits of the upper world) 
Can by investigation find him out. 
God is the Spirit, infinitely pure. 
Who fills the vast immensity of space, 
And comprehends eternity at once ; 
For all duration which to us is past, 
And all duration which is yet to come. 
Is, with Jehovah, " One Eternal Now." 
His wisdom, holiness, and love divine, — 
His knowledge, goodness, and his sacred truth,- 
And his terrific justice, are the same 
Through all eternity, without a change. 
These attributes are infinite as space. 
And as interminable as the life 
Of him in whom they all together meet. 
" God is a Spirit," says our Saviour, Christ; 
Hence, all who seek to worship him aright 
Must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

The little information I have given. 
In this brief lecture, on the Deity — 



#- 



#> * 

HIS DOUBTS. 75 

This brief epitome of what is known 
Concerning spirits and concerning God — 
I hope will satisfy your mind a while ; 
Till by degrees you study Holy Writ, 
And learn these sacred doctrines for yourself. 
Will you not love, and will you not adore 
Your great Creator now, my precious child 1 — 
I 'm confident you will, since you have learned 
The glory of his nature ; though portrayed 
So rudely here, in this imperfect sketch, 
Which I have laid before you, unprepared 
For such inquiries from your infant lips. 

She paused, and with an anxious look surveyed 
Her young inquirer, till he answered thus : — 

mother ! I have many things to ask 
Concerning God, before I can decide 
This all-important question, now proposed — 
The question, whether to adore and love 
The mighty Being whom you have described, 
Or only, with amazing terrors, dread 
His majesty and his terrific power. 
Sublime and glorious is the view of these, 
And of his high, unbounded knowledge, too, 
As in the noble portrait now displayed. 
By you presented — I delight to hear 
Of his omnipotence, if he is good ; 
And his omniscience pleases me as well \ 
And his immutability ; — the last 



# ■ 

76 PEREGRINUS. 



Becomes the Deity. Jehovah's truth, 

I think, cannot be questioned ; who will dare 

Impute deception to Almighty God? ♦ 

No mortal surely ever can suspect 

That one, of real dignity possessed, 

At any time can falsify his word ; 

Since fallacy of every kind appears, 

In all, degrading and extremely base ; 

Depriving every one of self-esteem, 

Who entertains and nurtures such a guest. 

Must not his perfect holiness be deemed 

Indubitable, too? Can filth approach, 

Or to unclean propensities excite, 

A Being who is infinitely great ? 

This seems impossible to me ; but still. 
Concerning this I further must inquire : 
For I with sorrow am constrained to say 
The doctrine of veracity, in God, 
And perfect holiness, appears to clash 
With other articles of Christian faith, 
If I have really understood aright 
Instructions which I long ago received : — 
Doctrines of his economy on earth, 
And of his dealings in another state, 
With men, — the children of his sovereign power. 
Of such a nature as he pleased to give. 
Placed in the station which to him seemed good. 
And managed here according to his will. 

Of God's eternal wisdom, too, you spoke : — 

4 



^ 

god's goodness. 77 I 



His wisdom ! — this is one delightful word ; — 

And wisdom infinite, divinely high, 

Beyond conception glorious and sublime. 

Could not the Lord, by his Almighty power 

And wisdom infinite, to man have given 

A nature totally averse to sin 1 

Could not the Eternal have averted thus 

The horrible catastrophe to flow 

From his transgression of his Maker's law, — 

His condemnation to eternal woes, 

And sinfulness, eternally prolonged ? 

His knowledge vast, immutable, immense ! 
I 'm filled with rapture at the very thought ; 
With deep astonishment and solemn awe, 
I bow with reverence before his feet : 
But though I, from my inmost soul, revere 
The wisdom, power, and knowledge of the Lord, 
Some quality more amiable must win 
The pure and warm affections of the heart, 
And sweetly captivate the throbbing brej»"* 
0, prove his goodness, equity, and lov 
And let me see these qualities displayed 
In all his dealings with the human race : 
Then will I love him, with my latent powers 
Excited into ecstacy unknown ; 
The fires which deep within this bosom glow, 
And only wait for one celestial breeze 
To raise them now into a living flame, 
Shall blaze aloft, and never be extinct. 



7* 



^ 

78 PEREGRINUS. 



O, prove his sweet benignity and grace, 
And give some demonstration of his love ; 
(Of his paternal love for all mankind ;) 
The influence of these virtues shall suffice 
To captivate my spirit and my soul 
With strong affections : I shall then be his, 
By sacred ties which nothing can dissolve ; 
While with seraphic love my spirit bums. 
Which all the floods of death can never quench. 

I know, when teaching me concerning God, 
My kind and ever-honored mother talked 
Of love immense, immutable, divine, 
And everlasting, in the eternal Sire, 
As his essential attributes, which fill 
Eternity ; but I could never see 
Wherein his love and equity consist. 
In all her teaching I could not observe. 
Though listening with the most attentive care, 
Impartial goodness in Jehovah's ways. 
And now, most anxiously, I wish to know 
Wherein these glorious attributes appear ; 
How they are exercised for human good ; 
And how with perspicuity revealed 
To man by God's economy on earth. 

When our kind teacher lectured me before, 
This doctrine I from her instructions learned — 
That those two parents of the human race. 
Who issued from their great Creator's hsmd, 

^ _ ^ 



MAN AS FIRST CREATED. 79 

Without an intermediate link between, 

When by their Maker first endued with life, 

Entirely differed in their moral powers, 

And moral characters, (which then were pure,) 

From those to their poor offspring handed down, 

A sad inheritance of sin and shame. 

Of anguish, misery, sorrow, woe, and guilt. 

But will she give clear information now 

Concerning man's creation, his first standing, 

His early sin, and consequent ejection 

From happiness, which ruined all his race, 

To his posterity's remotest age ; 

Which, his own goblet with dire venom filling, 

And for himself a drear Bastile erecting. 

Transmitted thence depravity and chains 

To all the generations of mankind. 

Which bind them to the chariot of tlie foe, 

With which he draws them downward into hell 1 

He pausing, then his teacher, deeply moved. 
To his interrogation thus replied : — 

Yes, child, I hasten now to satisfy 
Your thirst for knowledge of the sacred truths, 
Which every one should rightly understand, 
As on this information much depends ; 
And much, indeed, on this our safety hangs. 
While we are sailing through these stormy seas. 
To gain the haven of eternal peace. 

When first the Omnipotent created man, 



-«> 



so PEREGRINUS. 

He made him in the image of his God, 
In knowledge and in righteousness complete, 
With true and perfect holiness endued, 
A little lower than his angels' state ; 
Invested with fit qualities to rule 
In his terrestrial empire, newly raised, 
He gave him full dominion o'er the brutes, 
O'er all those animals that traverse earth. 
O'er all that swim along the flowing deep. 
Or with light pinions hover in the air : 
Thus having made him regent over all, 
He placed him in a paradise of joy. 
Thus was mankind created, pure and good, 
Endued with ample powers for still abiding 
In this perfection of his glorious state : 
'Twixt life and death, upon probation set. 
With potency alike to stand or fall. 

One pair was first created, as appears 
From sacred history by Moses penned ; 
Both male and female made ; and from the two 
Descended all the families of men. 

She rested here, and thus her tyro spoke : 
Is our kind mother now prepared to tell 
What our first parents did contrive to do, 
Alone and in the morning of their life, 
So long before posterity began, 
Wave following wave, to overflow the world — 
What they could do, so heinous and obscene — 



*> — — 

INSTRUMENTS OF THE FALL. 81 

What wicked act, beyond conception vile, 

Replete with most abominable guilt, 

So venomous as to infect mankind 

Forever, and to poison all their race ? 

While only two existed, man and wife, 

By what pestiferous felony did these, — 

(What shall we call them 1 — these two perfect ones 1) 

By what mysterious action did these two. 

Polluting all their progeny unborn. 

Make them obnoxious to the wrath of God, 

Till they become regenerate from above. 

By agency surpassing human power ? 

! what a wrathful being is the Lord, 
From age to age his anger to retain. 
And curse the children for their fathers' deed ! 

Though I request our mother now to give 
A full narration of our parents' fall. 
And show me by what channels they conveyed 
Death, miseries and pollutions down to us ; 

1 do remember something which she said, 
Once on a time, when she was teaching others 
To love religion and to worship God, 
When I was quite too young to comprehend 
The meaning of the doctrine which she taught. 
She, if I do not err, instructed them 
On this same topic 1 desire to learn. 
She spoke, when treating of our ruined state, 
Of Father Adam, and of Mother Eve, 
A snake, the devil, and a poisoned apple. 



82 PEREGRINUS. 



Was not this devil's proper name called Satan? — 

I think that memory has not deceived me. 

And did not Satan, like Aunt Zuba's wizard, 

Become a serpent, and cajole the woman 

To pluck the envenomed fruit 1 And did not Eve 

Partake of this, and offer some to Adam ? 

And did not Father Adam, like his consort. 

The proffered fruit receive, though God, his Maker, 

Had cautioned him to shun the simple bait? 

Was he, for this, from Paradise expelled? 

For this by painful labor doomed to live, 

And suffer, till the minister of death 

Complete the sentence of his angry Judge ? 

And has the poison (did you this affirm?) 

Infected all his progeny with sin. 

And with contagion, which produces death ? 

Of late, as I could no solution find 
Of these narrations which I bore in mind, 
I to my sister these afflictions told, 
Irene, who is over seven years old ; 
Hence, knowing more than I, she told me more, 
At once, than ever I had learned before. 
She pitied all my sorrows ; and she said, 
I 've all this story in the Bible read. 
Although the serpent did, in very fact, 
Coax Mother Eve to do this evil act. 
Yet do not, brother, so lament the deed ; 
For God himself declared, — The woman's seed 



^ . -.g, 

THE SECOND ADAM. 83 

Will slay the serpent : he will crush the head 
Of this old Satan, and will leave him dead. 
Then, being slain, he never will annoy, 
Thenceforth, our pleasures nor impede our joy. 
The hymn-book says, (and I believe it all,) 
God will restore the ruins of the fall. 
It says, — Though black iniquities should rise, 
Like towering mountains, and invade the skies, 
Jehovah's flowing grace will rise above, 
And drown them in this ocean of his love. * 

I said : What consolations you impart, 
My lovely sister, to my quivering heart ! 
No longer would it thus with sorrows ache, 
If I were certain this were no mistake ; 
If both the Bible and the hymn-book tell 
That all, at length, will terminate so well. 

Said she : There 's no mistake in what I say ; 
Think not Irene would your mind betray. 
When did I tell you anything untrue ? — 
I should not have expected this from you. 

The hymn-book says, (dear brother grieve no more,) 
The second Adam will, at length, restore 
The ruins of the other's wretched fall, — 
I 've read it ; there is no mistake at all. 
It says. In him the sons of Adam boast 
More blessings than of old their father lost. 

— -» 



PEREGRINUS. 



The Bible, speaking of the whole that lie 
Condemned, polluted, who in Adam die, 
Says : All of these, hereafter, shall revive 
In glory, and in Christ be made alive. 
It says. Hereafter, at the trumpet's sound. 
The dead shall rise from underneath the ground ; 
Then, like the birds ascending high in air, 
They '11 meet the Lord, their great Deliverer, there. 

Late, of one Victory our father read, 
That she will swallow death and free the dead ; 
Then, newly risen from their house of clay. 
They '11 weep ; but God will brush the tears away 
From every cheek, from every weeping eye, 
And make them happy, never more to sigh. 

It gives me pleasure to have learned your grief, 
As I can ojQfer you a sweet relief. 
By telling what I in the Bible find : — 
God ever is the father of mankind ; 
While men are subject to mutations strange, 
With him is found no shadow of a change. 
Mourn not because our first great grandsire fell, 
Since both the Bible and the hymn-book tell, 
That, when this mortal period once is past, 
All, somehow, will be very well at last. 

No longer sorrow, then ; no longer moan ; 
Nor leave your sister, wandering all alone. 



■"«>- 



4= — — — '^ 

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT. 85 

Long- was I seeking you, both far and near, 

And now, dear brother, having found you here, 

Come, let us joyfully together stray 

Where birds sing charmingly, this lovely day, 

And fields are sweetly blooming, with all the flowers 

of May. 
Shall we forebode imaginary ill. 
Though love and beauties all the country fill ? 
Be melancholy from our spirits driven. 
As still we daily raise our thoughts to Heaven, 
With gratitude for all these comforts given. 
Uniting with the choir of all the living. 
In songs of praise and anthems of thanksgiving, 
In humble recognition of the power 
That made the birds and painted every flower. 
In Nature's loveliness we '11 take delight. 
Believing God will order all things right. 

Such were the consolations, such the hopes, 
Which then with fervent soul Irene gave. 
With all her spirit glowing in her eyes. 
And in her visage ; and her charming voice 
Became all music. ! she was inspired 
With holy ardor by the glorious theme ! 

But now, from this digression to return, 
Did our first parents, by forbidden fruit. 
Infect their numerous progeny with sin. 
With dire contagion, misery and death? 



8 



■# 



86 PEREGRINUS. 



Is this the event to be related now 1 

I never loved that narrative ; it seemed 

So mystical, so cruel and unjust. 

I grieved and shuddered when it first was told, 

With every dreadful circumstance combined. 

If this be what my parent means to teach, 
I hope its cloudiness will be removed ; 
I do not mean the narrative itself, 
The circumstances I may comprehend ; 
But of their consequences I complain, 
And clear, consistent explications ask. 
Although, indeed, the sequel of this crime 
With mist and darkness is enveloped now, 
Still overshadowed by horrific clouds. 
Through which no glimmering rays of light appear, 
I hope the shadows now will be dispelled ; 
I hope she now will make it very clear. 
That God is kind, benevolent and good, 
To all his children here below the skies ; 
Then I shall love hiiji. Let me understand 
That all his doings are completely just, 
And realize in him a God of love ; 
Then will I bow submissive at his feet, 
And worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Here paused her tjrro ; then, with anxious soul 
And quivering nerves, awaited her reply. 
Till, answering, thus his pious teacher spoke : 



. — -«. 

CHILDISH PRECOCITY. 87 

Though long, my little darling, I have known 

That our great Father has on you bestowed 

A mind imbued with aspirations high, 

With deep reflections and expansive thought, 

Such as I never, in my life, perceived 

In children of your age, nor yet in those 

Already passed beyond maternal charge, 

Nor youths of age mature ; — had oft observed 

The keen impressions on your tender heart. 

At all times in your countenance portrayed, 

When aged people conversation hold 

On topics deep, on all-important themes ; — 

Yet I am quite astonished to perceive 

The demonstration of retentive powers, 

And of the attention of your infant mind 

To themes of import awful and sublime. 

Which now is offered me ; since you have pM>ved 

That, in reality, you do preserve 

In memory those instructions that were given 

To children much above your present age. 

When I considered you as quite a babe. 

And when I never should have once conceived 

Of your attending to the truths expressed ; 

But you were striving, then, to comprehend 

The fearful import of the doctrines taught. 

Now, since with care you truly did attend 
To such instructions, while unknown to me 
That on these topics you had ever thought. 



'^- 



88 PEREGRINUS. 



And of these sayings, to the present hour, 
Some I discover treasured in your mind ; 
This information which I now shall give 
I trust in heaven you never will forget. 

When God created first a human pair, 
He placed them in a glorious paradise. 

What is a paradise 1 I wish to know. 

A paradise, my darling, signifies 
A fertile, variegated tract of soil. 
Where divers fruit trees in abundance grow. 

He left them in a paradise of joys, 
Where diverse fruit-trees in abundance grow, 
With unrestrained permission to partake 
Of all the bounties of his liberal hands ; 
To sa^ their hunger, and extinguish thirst, 
Or please their fancies ; with but one reserve, 
And that a single interdicted tree. 
The plant excepted by their Maker's law 
Stood like a pillar in the middle ground. 
Which lay contiguous with the blest parterre, 
Which held a glorious tree — the tree of life. 
The plant reserved was by Jehovah named 
The Tree of Knowledge, both of good and ill. 
He said to Father Adam, ' ' On the day 
When thou partakest of forbidden fruit. 
Thou certainly shalt die." (But, as they say. 
It should be rendered. Dying thou shalt die.) 



*- 



<%>- 



THE FIRST TEMPTATION. 89 

(He of this reservation had, before, 
Prohibited the taste.) Had man obeyed. 
He, with his progeny, had still remained 
Sinless and happy. Sorrow, pain, and death, — 
Those chieftains in the retinue of sin, — 
Could never otherwise have won this earth 
Than through that error of our federal head. 

The child, here interposing, queried thus : — 
But is not this astonishing, indeed, 
That Eve, the grandame of the human race. 
And Adam, too, the grandsire of mankind, 
Had not the resolution to abstain 
From things forbidden by his Maker, God ? 

When did I taste of either fruit or cakes. 
Till I received permission 1 Never, once. 
Why could they not as patiently forbear 
The tree to rifle and devour its fruit, 
As I can wait permission to receive 
The things most likely for myself reserved ? 

How could they, when surrounded with delights, 
With all, but this, at their own option left 
By their Creator, wickedly presume 
To disobey his mandate, and partake 
Of that which his good pleasure had reserved. 
With reasons, and for purposes unknown 1 
What moved them so to gather and devour 



8* 



90 PEREGRINUS. 



The fruit, which he not only had withheld, 
But this upon the penalty of death ? 

I feel indignant at the foolish deed, 
Which has no palliation nor excuse ; 
I think they merited severe rebuke. 

How little can the human species boast 
Of their progenitor, alike devoid 
Of sacred honor, gratitude and faith ! 
Could not the allegiance by nature due 
To God, his Sire and Maker, nor the dread 
Of sorrow, death, and miseries after death, 
Control his strange propensity for eating 
The fruit prohibited 1 

Did Adam know. 
While feasting, he was poisoning all his race, 
Involving all in ruin ? And did Eve, 
When first she plucked these interdicted balls. 
Foresee the miseries she would thus entail 
On all her numerous progeny unborn ? 

If God is just, — as ministers affirm, — 
Then am I confident they knew it all. 
Nor was the horrible result concealed. 
It was unrighteous, in Almighty God, 
Their legislator, if he did withhold 
The dreadful consequences of the deed, 
Till after they committed their offence — 
Till after their delinquency was known. 



*- 



THE FIRST PARENTS. 91 

The penal sanction of Jehovah's law 

(Por so you termed it) should have been revealed 

Before the perpetration of the crime, 

To those on whom the punishment would fall. 

A righteous governor would not inflict 

A punishment that never was annexed, 

Before transgression, to their Maker's law. 

I, therefore, must infer, as God is just. 

The fatal consequences were foretold. 

With nothing of the dire result concealed. 

O, cruel Adam, and more cruel Eve ! 
Sure, these two parents of the human race 
Of natural affections were devoid ; — 
Less feeling than wild animals of prey, 
The fierce hyena, tiger, wolf and bear. 
Of which full often I have heard you speak. 

Still, I 'm unable fully to believe 
That our progenitors would have transgressed, 
If they had known the terrible results. 
To their posterity, of this offence ; 
They from the heinous act would have recoiled. 
With horrors and ineffable disgust. 

Yet, if 't was their intention to commit 
Self-murder, eating that pernicious fruit. 
Why not, before their progeny commenced, 
Perform it, and expire without a child? 
Why did they countless millions introduce 
To this inheritance of guilt and woe ? 



92 PEREGKINUS. 



But mother told me (this I now remember) 
The Almighty said that Adam, in the day 
Of his transgression, certainly would die. 
Did Adam die the very day he sinned 1 
Did this vile apple poison him to death 1 

His teacher answered, — Not the very day, 
As, in our dialect, the word implies : 
He died, my child, within a thousand years. 

Her pupil, in astonishment, exclaimed, 
Almost a thousand years ! — can this be so 1 
Did Adam live almost a thousand years 1 
Did his Creator speak to him untruth. 
When he predicted his immediate death , — 
Not in a thousand years, but in a day, — 
The day that he should perpetrate the crime ? 

To this, with agitation, she replied : 
My dearest child, your mother greatly fears 
She wants the ability, now much required. 
To clear this doubt, and satisfy your mind ; 
You, therefore, must with humble patience wait, 
Till you become in judgment well matured. 
Consider, you are still so very young 
That other children of your tender age 
On such high topics never think at all. 
Then, how can you, with reason, now demand 
A perfect comprehension of the ways 



*- 



DEATH IN THE WORLD. 93 



And mysteries of Providence Supreme ? 
Although you cannot understand the plans 
Of his dominion, these are all divine — 
Divinely sacred, and divinely good ; 
In justice perfect, and unfailing truth. 
'T is wrong, 't is impious, ever to suspect, 
In him, deception, fallacies or fraud. 
No falsity, no blunders, no mistake, — 
No sort of errors of whatever grade, — 
Can his eternal sanctuary stain, 
Or his all-perfect holiness approach : 
These are abhorrent to his nature ; — these 
By his irradiation are repelled. 

A 11 our most celebrated doctors own 
This question very difficult to solve. 
Still, hoping to relieve your troubled mind, — 
Though not to make the subject wholly clear, — 
For its elucidation, I must say, 
God is eternal ; — hence, a thousand years, 
With him, are only as a fleeting day ; 
Hence, Adam's death, nine hundred years postponed. 
Completely verified his Maker's word. 
Though surely not as we compute the time, 
In computation heavenly and divine. 
He died within the day of his offence. 
Besides, he was made liable to death 
The very moment when he disobeyed 
Jehovah's mandate ; — virtually he died ; — 



-# 



94 PEREGRINUS. 



Thus, he becoming mortal, then was sown 
The seed of death within his earthy form. 
As he no longer owned immortal life ; 
He, every moment, was exposed to die. 

She paused : when thus her catechumen spoke : 
Dear mother, you had reason for your fears, 
That so my doubts were not to be resolved. 
Nor clouds from my dark atmosphere removed ; — 
For explications such as here you give 
Can never, never, satisfy your child. 
As demonstrations of Eternal Truth. 
What other meaning could the sire of men 
Attach, with reason, to his Maker's law 
Than, Death shall seize thee on the very day 
That you transgress, before the setting sun? 
How could he possibly have understood 
That only future death was signified. 
In almost twice five hundred years to come ? 
And was not this deception, too, designed. 
By his great Legislator, King and Judge, 
When uttering sayings which would prove untrue 
In every rational and obvious sense 
Which could have been perceived by Adam's mind ? 
Would he (the Almighty) thus equivocate, — 
Predicting certain death, that very day. 
Still meaning in a thousand years to come. 
Because that he, perhaps, has days in heaven. 
Each one a thousand years in length? 0, no ! 



«* # 

CHARACTER OF GOD. 95 

Would this not prove equivocation vile 1 — 

Equivocation of the first degree, 

Without a palliation or excuse 1 

Our parents tell us never to deceive ; 

They charge us never to equivocate. 

They tell us, — and I well remember this, — 

Equivocations are the same as lies, 

Since both of these are equally designed 

To blind, deceive, entangle and misguide. 

Did, then, Jehovah perpetrate this wrong 1 — 

Equivocate, and so deceive the man 

Whom he created, when he first was made 1 

Is such, indeed, the character of God 1 — 

His dealings such with children of his power ? 

Yet every day you in the Bible read, 

As from his lips, these declarations strong, — 

I am Jehovah, holy, just, and good ; — 

I am the God of Equity and Truth. 

Has God, our Maker, to himself assumed, 

Like many a cruel tyrant of the world. 

These appellations, Holy, Good, and Just — 

A character which he does not deserve 1 

And are these epithets, to him applied, 

As vain, as unsubstantial, as the down 

Of thistles floating in a summer gale 1 

Alas ! if I am able to discern 
'Twixt good and evil, all that I have learned 
Of God's economy with sons of earth 



96 PEREGRINTJS. 



Portrays him totally devoid of truth, — 
Of mercy, goodness, equity and love, — 
And paints him full of malice and deceit, 
Injustice, hatred, cruelty, and wrath. 

But something in my bosom whispers still 
This cannot be the character of God, 
Whose pleasure gave the whole creation birth ; 
Of him that gave intelligence to man, — 
The Father and Preserver of our race. 
Do I not view him in a false disguise, 
Which cunning, artful, and designing men 
Have, in this picture, which my soul abhors, 
O'er his eternal righteous shoulders flung? 

May not this Holy Bible prove untrue, 
The work of crafty priests and cruel kings, 
To sanction their abominable crimes. 
And screen their horrid characters from blame ? 
Or, if, indeed, this be God's Holy Book, 
It may have been perverted, misapplied. 
And strangely misinterpreted to us. 
In its translation from its former tongues. 
I noticed Deacon Brown, while latest here, 
And freely talking of the Bible, said 
This book was not in English written first, 
But in a different language, used of old 
By people in a country far remote. 
Beyond the ocean, toward the rising sun ; 



<^ 



<%> — f 

i FALSE GUIDES. 97 

A language which did not resemble ours 
In form or idiom ; — hence was difficult 
For English learned men to understand ; 
Which difficulty greatly is increased 
By its peculiar brevity of speech ; 
And, therefore, many passages are left 
In darkness, and to us they seem obscure, 
As given us by the authority of James, 
The king, almost two hundred years ago. 

But I was much astonished when he said 
Those great interpreters, employed by James, 
Were not experienced in Jehovah's love, 
Nor felt the saving influence of the truth ; 
And these unholy, these ungodly men. 
The Scripture covered with the strange disguise 
With which she 's still enveloped all around. 
Which veil her beauties, and conceal her charms, 
And introduced her in her present garb 
Of antiquated English, sacred deemed 
By vulgar prejudice, which still is led, 
With darkened conscience, in a devious way, 
By clerical seducers full of guile, 
With influence unholy and malign, 
By which they hold the populace in chains, 
And make their wealth a prey, their persons slaves : 
Hereby they reign as tyrants in the world. 
Affecting lordship o'er the church of God, 
Within the sacred heritage of Christ. 

4 



^ — . __ ^ 

98 PERF.GRINUS. 

He said, the interpreters of Holy Writ 
Were Calvinistic leaders of the church, 
Whose shocking tenets represented God 
As destitute of mercy, love and grace ; 
As fiend-like in malignity and wrath ; 
A cruel, partial Being ; — one that hates, 
From all eternity, without a cause, 
A vast majority of human kind. 
His sons and daughters, offspring of his will. 

He said, they wrested many a holy text 
To meanings all unlike its Hebrew sense, 
To make the holy volume seem to speak 
The cruel doctrines of old Calvin's sect : — 
Yet all their artifice could not avail 
To cause their versions, in their general scope, 
To sanction Calvin's " horrible decree." 

Of our good deacon's sayings, interspersed 
With much that I could never understand, 
I now have mentioned but a very few ; 
But these I ponder oft, with pleasing thoughts, 
Because they give me some delightful hope, 
That still the Bible in its ancient tongue 
(He called it Hebrew) offers nobler views 
Of God, our Maker, than we yet conceive. 

But now, concerning Adam ; mother said, 
That he, by his transgression of the law, 



* — — — 

PUNISHMENT OF ADAM. 99 

Became a sinner, wretched and depraved ; 

She likewise told me, at another time, 

That God delivers sinful men, at death, 

To fierce tormenting creatures, — cruel fiends, 

Who drag them, shrieking, from the courts of heaven. 

Then plunge them headlong into burning seas, 

And vex and torture them in living fire. 

Now I most anxiously desire to learn 

How long it is since Father Adam died. 

His mother answered, I do not perceive 
What consequence you can attach to this ; 
For, in the time elapsed from Adam's death, 
Through rolling ages, to the present time, 
I surely no importance can discover. 
In such connection as here introduced. 

Why with such emphasis do you propound 
The query ? Why does all your visage prove 
Romantic sensibilities excited 
Upon a topic of such feeble note ? 

I cannot answer. Do vouchsafe to give 
This information which I now require. 

Yes, though still more surprised, I will inform you. 
Almost five thousand years the sire of men 
Has been commingled with the dust of earth ; 
Within her bosom he must still repose. 
In peaceful slumbers, till the trumpet's sound 
Shall summon to inmiortal life the just. 



-* 



100 PEREGRINUS. 



O may we all from darkness then arise, 
Triumphant over misery, sin and death ! 

Five thousand years ! exclaimed the tro.ubled child ;* 
Five thousand years ! — and speaking, gasped for 

breath ; — 
Ah ! — what duration ! — what an awful time ! — 
Strange length — of punishment in living fire ! — 
When — near five thousand years ago — he died, — 
Were howling devils rushing for their prey I — 
Did cruel fiends — then — drag away his soul 1 — 
And did they seize the quivering soul of her — 
Called Eve — the mother — of the human race ? — 
And did they plunge them into burning seas 1 — 
Have they been suffering, there, five thousand years? 
Are cruel devils — who delight in flame — 
Tormenting them — and scoffing at their groans 1 — 
Pray, mother — pray to God — to drive away — 
These cruel devils, — these tormenting fiends ! — 
Oh ! set them free ! — I cannot — cannot — live — 
If they must sufier more ! — Oh ! set them free ! — 
By prayer release them ; — break their burning chains ! 
Release the sufferers — mother ! — you can pray ; — 
You say that God will hear — and answer prayers. 
Have mercy — O my God ! — Five thousand years ! 
Oh, God — have mercy — take them out of hell ! 

* During this address the child frequently gasped for breath, 
being nearly suffocated with grief, &c. These interruptions 
are denoted by dashes. 



-* 



god's mercy. 101 



O'ercome, exhausted, here this infant paused, 
Nor more of broken sentences could speak. 

Then, deeply moved, his teacher made reply, 
To soothe the bosom of her little charge : 
Dear child, be calm, for Adam now is safe, 
And Eve is happy. These are both in heaven. 
The Lord, — as we are told by great divines, — 
In sovereign mercy, changed their sinful hearts, 
Renewed their spirits, purified their will ; 
To them his image having thus restored. 
He, by adoption, made them heirs of God. 
They, by regeneration, issued forth, 
With happy change, from darkness into light ; 
They worshipped him on earth, and, when they died. 
Were taken up to Paradise above. 

To this her child responded, while new joy 
Glowed in his cheeks and sparkled in his eyes. 
Well, then, I will rejoice. The Lord is kind ; 
I now believe it, and my soul is glad. 
Yes ; he is good and merciful, indeed, 
To all the human race, and he will change 
The wicked hearts of all ; and when they die. 
Will take them into Paradise above. 

My dear, replied his teacher, (while her eyes 
Were gently shining through a flood of tears,) 
You are again too fast. All who repent 
And turn to God, forsaking evil ways. 



9* 



^ ^ 

102 PEREGRINUS. 

And truly are converted, will be saved ; 

But all that obstinately persevere 

In sins, and trample on Jehovah's grace, 

Will be condemned. From mercy Heaven excludes 

All these neglecters of long-suffering love. 

The child, with expectations overthrown, 
And soul afflicted, by his teacher's words, 
Replied, with disappointment overwhelmed : 

mother, you delighted me before, 
Exciting in my spirit living joys ; 
But, oh ! this is a horrible reverse 
Of what your sayings led me to expect. 

1 thought, if, in reality, the man 
Who first inducted misery and crime, 
Infecting his posterity with guilt, 
Was made partaker of the Father's love, 
Then all his ruined family, of course, 
Will, likewise, be recovered from the fall, 
And all admitted to the world of light — 
To heaven, the region of eternal joy. 
To know, with him, beatitude and peace. 

You say that Adam, with his consort. Eve, 
Is happy, while they both are highly blest, 
Together, having dwelt five thousand years 
In Paradise, while their unhappy sons 
And daughters are inheritors of woe. 
You say their wretched sons, and daughters too, 

<%> 



REFLECTIONS IN HEAVEN. 103 

Whom they have poisoned with forbidden fruit, 
By millions heaped on millions, are expelled 
From God, and from the mansions of delight, 
Then dragged by devils into burning floods, 
And there tormented many thousand years. 

But ah ! what piquant twinges of remorse 
Does Father Adam feel in heaven above ! 
What strange sensations of despair and guilt ! 
What wild emotions, and what pungent stings ! 
Self-accusations, joined with sorrows keen ! — 
As he beholds his children dragged away. 
By fierce tormentors, to the burning lake ! 
And how does Mother Eve, in Paradise, 
Unite her wailings with the sire of men. 
And shriek with anguish piercing and severe, 
In hopeless agony, while they behold 
Their sons and daughters rolling in the flames, 
With tantalizing demons scoffing round ! 
While they reflect on their ovm evil deeds. 
And say, These children, who from us descend. 
Now suflfering all the miseries of hell. 
Would all be happy, perfecHand secure. 
If we had not contaminated all 
With sin, by plucking that forbidden fruit. 
And introducing miseries and death ! 

So spake the child ; but while a withering frown 
Sat on her countenance, his parent thus, 



104 PEREGRINUS. 



With most severe and keen rebuke replied : 
My son, your talk is wicked. God is just. 
We cannot comprehend his righteous ways. 
But, surely, this is impious, to suppose 
That saints in heaven are not entirely blest ; 
No sorrows can obtain admittance there. 

The child replied, Dear mother, now reflect ; 
If you with my kind father were in heaven, 
But I were suffering all the pains of hell. 
Could you be happy and contented there? 
And could you dwell in everlasting peace, 
In full possession of unruffled joy? 

She kissed her pupil, then, as gushing tears 
Were laving her maternal cheeks, with sighs 
Oft interrupted ; thus she kindly spoke : 

My son, as heretofore, be always good. 
Then heaven will surely be your future home. 
In this connection never mention hell ; 
Oh, never ! never ! — always talk of heaven. 
The very mention pierces through my breast ; — 
Oh ! 't is a deadly thou|dit ! I cannot bear 
To give the horrid supposition place 
A single moment. This would rive my heart 
Asunder. I should faint away and die. 

My child, we must be pious ; — must obey, 
With pure sincerity, the Holy Book, 



«- 



* — . — — <^ 

RESTORATION OF MAN. 105 

And live as Christians. We shall then be safe ; 

And, death arriving, when we all expire, 

God will receive us into his abode, 

To dwell forever near hi^ shining throne, 

Behold immortal glories in his face, 

Inhale his spirit and enjoy his love. 

Now see how little progress we have made 
In that narration which we undertook 
But in compliance with your own request, 
Though with a ready heart and strong desire 
To feed your spirit and imbue your mind, 
In early childhood, with these sacred truths. 

If you such interruptions still obtrude, 
I never shall be able to relate 
The circumstances of the fall of man, 
Nor of his restoration to the life 
Of Equity, of Truth, and Love Divine, 
By that redemption, through the Saviour's blood, 
Which for the human race has been prepared, 
And which was offered in the destined hour : 
The precious ransom, by Messiah paid. 
To rescue mortals from the power of sin. 
And reinstate them in the peace of God, 
Beyond the power of sorrow, death and hell. 



THIRD BOOK. 

Now since the instructions which we lately sung 
(Efiiisions of a mother's kindness) flowed 
In all the gentle eloquence of love, 
To mitigate the sorrows of her child, 
Infusing confidence and heavenly peace. 
Old Phoebus, seated on his flaming throne, 
Had seven times all the longitude surveyed 
Of our terraqueous, ever whirling globe. 
Before renewal was to him allowed 
Of those inquiries long before commenced. 

At length a season opportune occurred 
For this " young anxious one " again to seek 
For private lectures from his pious guide, 
Whose daily teaching was designed to lead 
All her dependents in the ways of life. 

With general teaching others were content ; 
But this peculiar infant oft retired 
To secret places, and alone revolved, 
With troubled thoughts, each item of her themes ; 
While strange perplexities disturbed his mind, 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 107 

And darkness closed him in, for which he sought 

A remedy, by superadded light. 

Which still he hoped his parent would bestow. 

He found her, to appearance, disengaged 

From her domestic cumbrances, and said : 

Will you vouchsafe, dear mother, to renew 

Those private lectures, long ago commenced, 

To give instructions, at my own request, -^ 

Which yet unhappily have not availed 

To free the mind from sorrow and from doubt, 

From gloomy horrors, cloudiness, and night. 

His teacher answered : — I will recommence. 
And give the information which you crave ; 
But you must show more patience than before : 
And may the Almighty Father give you grace. 
With calm submission to receive his truth. 
And overcome this enmity of heart. 
This opposition to Jehovah's will ; 
For resignation is a heavenly grace. 
And those who find it are supremely blest. 

I told you Adam was created pure, 
And still had in his purity remained, 
A stranger equally to grief and pain, 
Had he not disobeyed the one command 
The single prohibition. God is just. 
And infinitely merciful and good. 
To our progenitors he fully showed 
A demonstration of abounding love. 



i 108 PEREGRINUS. 



In all the bounties of his providence 

So graciously bestowed ; the copious means 

Of happiness, enjoyment, and delight, 

With which they were surrounded. Never doubt, 

Henceforward, while you breathe the vital air, 

The kindness of our Maker. I am grieved 

That you suspect the goodness of the Lord. 

Oh ! it is sinful ! 't is the crafty work 

Of the old arch enemy of God and man ; 

He slyly his insinuations breathes 

Into your bosom, hoping to seduce. 

With artifice, hypocrisy, and guile, 

My child from his allegiance to his God, 

And draw him to his party ; he excites 

(By tainting privately his tender mind) 

Suspicions rank of equity divine. 

That he may draw him onward to renounce 

His faith and confidence. I fear, indeed. 

Lest he at length should fatally prevail 

Against my son, the comfort of my life, — 

Should lead him downward in the ways of death, 

Cajole him till entangled with his snares, 

Then plunge him deep into the horrid pit 

Of error, infidelity, and vice. 

Beware of Satan ! — he would fain allure, 
By his devices, your immortal soul, 
Infusing jealousies, surmises, doubts, 
Until he suffocates the holy flame 
Of pious love which in your bosom glows. 



THE SERPENT. 109 



With like deceptions he perverted Eve, 
Enticing her to crop the deadly fruit 
Prohibited by heaven's immortal Sire : 
Though her Creator had expressly said, 
" Ye shall not of the tree of knovt'ledge eat. 
Of good and evil ; for within the day 
Ye take thereof, ye certainly shall die." 
This adversary took a serpent's form ; 
Or entering, perhaps, a real snake. 
To mask himself and cover his designs. 
With most infernal artifice, he said, 
" Hath God indeed forbidden you to eat 
Of all the trees which in the garden stand? " 
(Hereby to her was intimated then, 
As now he daily intimates to you, 
That God is not benevolent and just.) 

To this interrogation she replied : 
Of all the trees that in the garden stand, 
We freely may partake ; — but as for that 
Which holds its station near the middle ground, 
God has forbidden us to taste or touch 
This tree of reservation, lest we die. 

But, she was answered by the snaky fiend, 
Ye shall not surely die ; for God well knows 
That in the day when ye partake thereof 
Your eyes shall be quite opened : ye shall stand 
As gods, with knowledge both of good and ill. 

<^ 

10 



# * 

110 PEREGRINUS. 

The woman listened to the serpent's voice ; 
She saw the fruit in beauteous clusters hang, 
Alluring to the sight, and she supposed 
Delicious to the taste ; and, better still, 
A thing desirable, as she conceived. 
From virtue dwelling in the charming plant. 
For making people wise. (This was declared 
By Satan ; and to her imagination seemed 
As indicated by its very name.) 
She, yielding to the tempter, then approached. 
With hasty steps, this interdicted tree. 
And rashly on its baleful product seized. 
In evil hour ; and greedily partook. 
Without remorse, of that unhallowed feast. 
She next (become seducer, in her turn — 
Poor, blinded agent of the infernal snake !) 
Presented Adam with the mortal bait ; 
This he, without reluctance, from her hand 
Received and ate, and thus became involved 
With her in hopeless misery and guilt. 

Thus was the fall completed. Milton sings 
That nature then gave agonizing signs 
That all was lost ; while from her entrails deep 
This earth emitted strange, horrific groans. 
With awful bellowings from unfathomed caves ; 
And from the very centre of her heart. 
Rent with convulsions, panted, heaved, and tossed, 
At this completion of the mortal sin. 



tib 

ADAM AND EVE AFTER THE FALL. Ill 

When our progenitors were thus enticed 
To disohey their great Creator's law, 
Their eyes were opened, as the tempter said, 
(For truth is often mingled with his lies ;) — 
Were sadly opened, to behold themselves 
Not high exalted to the rank of gods. 
But plunged in misery, despair and shame — 
A guilty shame, to innocence unknown. 
Then first they of their nudity complained, 
And sought a covering from each other's sight, 
And from the all-piercing, all-pervading eye 
From which the dark recesses of this earth 
Afford no covering : their unskilful hands 
Now, from the leaves of oriental figs. 
Constructed aprons. Thus were shame and guilt 
Twin sisters, and have never parted since. 

Imagine, now, the dire sensations felt 
By Adam and by Eve, when these awoke 
To one broad view of their enormous crime. 
The foe had disappeared, as if ashamed 
That he, by his abominable lies, 
Had into ruin led this artless pair. 
The rapture which the inebriating fruit 
A while excited now had passed away, 
And left them cold, — in melancholy mood 
To ruminate upon their present case, 
And on the horrors of impending fate, 
The dissolution which they had deserved ; 
While they foreboded that amazing wrath. 



112 PEREGRLNUS. 



In their Creator, which they had provoked ; 

Whose coming these anticipated now, 

As their offended Judge ; with numerous bands 

Of holy angels of cherubic forms, 

And of the flaming seraphs of the sky, 

To see his execution of their doom, 

Or be perhaps his ministers of woe. 

What could these poor delinquents then expect 
From God, their Maker and their sovereign Lord, 
But wrath, and vengeance, and immediate death ? 
What terrors haunted their distracted minds ! 
What dire forebodings of the approaching hour ! 
Already their imagination sees 
Jehovah's mien with dreadful anger flame ; 
Imagination sees the Judge descend. 
Armed with red lightning and careering storms, 
To drive them suddenly to death and hell. 

Such was their state of horrors and dismay. 
Till their Creator now at length appears. 
They heard his wonted signal in the wind, 
And recognized his advent : then, with fear 
Tormented, shuddering, hid among the trees. 

Now who can wonder at their guilty fears, 
Or feel amazed on seeing that despair ? 
Did not their treachery, their breach of trust, 
Their base ingratitude, rise full in view, 
And in their apprehension strongly bar 

^ ^4, 



'^- 



god's mercy. 113 



*- 



The gates of mercy, as with iron bolts, 
And barricade them with ponderous blocks 
Of adamant ] Think you that any hope 
Of peace or pardon found admittance then, 
To mitigate the anguish of their souls 1 

I know the feelings of your heart respond : 
Ah ! surely no ; they had not any ground 
For hope of mercy at their Maker's hands. 
I clearly find this sentiment expressed. 
Both in your visage and expressive eyes. 
But, dearest child, I 'm ready to bestow 
The consolation which your heart requires, 
A demonstration of the amazing love 
And mercy of the Lord. Jehovah comes, 
'Not armed with lightning, or a flaming sword, 
To slay the rebels, and condemn their souls 
To that dark region — to that awful deep, — 
The dismal, black, and fiery dungeon, — hell, 
As conscious justice in their hearts foretold ; 
But calm and placid, as the morning cool, 
Or evening twilight ; and the hour he chose 
To judge these felons represented well 
His own benignity, his love and grace. 

Now treasure in your bosom all these proofs 
Of that benevolence which you desire, 
And which you long have waited to discern, 
Most certainly developed and revealed 
In God omnipotent. My son, attend : 
He walked in Paradise, but all appeared 



10* 



* -* 

114 PEREGRINUS. 

Deserted ; and the charming region seemed 

A solitary wild, without a man : 

For Adam in a thicket lay concealed, 

To hide himself from his Creator's eye ; 

He called him, saying, Adam, where art thou? 

As circumstances here hy chance occurred, 
Compelling our instructress to suspend, 
An hour or more, the lecture thus begun. 
Before she recommenced, her pupil said : 
Dear mother, I have often heard you say 
That God knows everything ; and that he views 
The whole creation at a single glance. 
How, then, could this forlorn, this guilty pair, 
Be from his all-beholding eye concealed 1 
Did he not know the occasion of their flight, 
And in what covert they were lurking then 1 
But was the Almighty Sovereign quite alone 
When he appeared in judgment 1 I have heard 
That he, in heaven above, has numerous hosts 
Of angels, far surpassing human skill 
To count the numbers, or to call the names 
Of those who marshal them, in orders bright ; — 
All these, unceasingly, before his throne 
Adore and praise him. I have heard you say. 
When he comes down to judgment, fire, and storm. 
The herald, Gabriel, with a trumpet's sound ; 
Hoarse thunders, rending, crashing, bellowing loud ; 
Fierce tempests, howling to the affrighted deep, 

^ 



THE JUDGMENT DAY. 115 

And roaring o'er the land the lightning's blaze ; 
Angelic legions, and seraphic bands, 
Precede his coming, and prepare his way ; 
While all the winged legions of the sky, 
In bright procession, follow in his train, 
Obey his signals, and attend his will. 
Why did he so undignified appear, 
With no attendants, in this judgment day ? 
Was this befitting Majesty Divine 1 
What earthly monarch, who, with righteous laws. 
Reigns o'er the people subject to his sway, 
Would ever secretly arraign and try 
A felon for the breach of his decrees 1 

To this our pious teacher answered thus : 
My dear, the judgment day of which you speak. 
Which in your hearing I have thus described. 
Is that tremendous day — that final day — 
Which ends the tragedy of earthly things, 
And introduces scenes which never end. 
Then all that ever did inhabit earth, 
And all the inhabitants of other worlds, 
(Say many of our sacred Christian bards,) 
With all the fallen angels, must appear. 
Called by the archangel's death-disturbing blast, 
(The final trumpet,) and compelled to stand 
Before the awful judgment-seat of Christ. 
Ungodly folks will then be all condemned 
To everlasting woe, but righteous ones 
Received to glory and eternal bliss. 
# 



116 PEREGRINUS. 



But though when Adam had transgressed the law, 
Jehovah truly did for judgment come, 
To try and to condemn the sinful pair. 
He also came on purposes of grace ; , 
He came in mercy to the wretched two. 
Immersed in ruin, while his heart revolved 
Plans of salvation for the race of man 
So vast, so wonderful, so deep, so high. 
That, being since developed, they have filled 
With joy and wonder all the sons of light. 

You ask, why God, without a retinue, 
Undignified and unmajestic, came. 
I answer, Mercy prompted him to this, 
And tender pity for the wretched state 
Of our progenitors, too deeply plunged 
In mental agony and black despair. 
He meant not to astonish nor alarm, 
With sudden terrors, their afflicted minds ; 
For their forebodings of impending fate 
Had now already half extinguished life. 

Attend without objection, child ; my theme 
Shall demonstrate the goodness of the Lord. 

I will, dear mother, said the little child, 
(Anxiety now quivering in his nerves,) 
I will with diligence and care attend 
To your narration. Demonstrate to me, 
That he is good, to ease my troubled thoughts, 
And make me happy. This will give me peace, 
Which dire misfortunes never can disturb. 



<%> — -<jb 

god's universal knowledge. 117 



Then shall my soul and spirit issue forth, 
To meet my Father, with affection pure 
And fervent. I will give him all my heart. 

Well, hear me, then, she said, and you shall know 
That his unbounded goodness far exceeds 
The comprehension of created minds. 

Herein you rightly judged. The Eternal One 
Knows all things truly ; he at once can view 
The past and future, as he views the scenes 
Which now are passing ; angels cannot hide 
From his all-seeing eye ; and every thought 
Of every creature % the universe 
Is by the Omniscient fully understood. 

Then, said the little child, may I not ask, 
Since God does know the future as the past, 
And past and future as the present time. 
Did he not know, when he created man. 
And gave him such a nature as he pleased, 
With infinite variety reserved 
In his Almighty power, with which his hand, 
In that beginning, might have well endued, 
At his own choice, the creature of his will ; 
And when he planted that forbidden tree 
In Paradise, and made the wily snake ; 
And when he let the devil roam at large. 
To do his pleasure, in this lower world, — 
Did he not know that man would be seduced 



•»• 



^ ____ ^-<^ 

118 PEREGRTNUS. I 



By Satan, hidden in the serpent's form, 
Of those pernicious apples to partake 1 
Did not the Eternal, then, design his fall 
Before he made him 1 Did he not decree 
The consequential ruin of his race ? 
Why did he make him such 1 

His teacher, here, 
Quick interrupting, answered with a frown : 
Be silent, child ! — I never will indulge 
Such bold, audacious queries. , You have sinned 
Against the Sovereign of the universe, 
By these, your impious, strangely wild remarks. 

I now forbid you thus to interrupt 
The thread of my narration. I command, 
(Fail not the injunction strictly to observe,) 
In your most secret musings, never, more, 
Suspect the goodness of Almighty God ; 
For this is sinful ; 't is the secret work 
Of the arch -apostate, Satan, on your mind. 
Jehovah's word declares him good to all, 
Without exception or the least reserve. 
With " tender mercies over all his works ;" 
Blind as we are, full often we can trace 
His goodness in his providential ways ; 
But, when his doings seem to us obscure. 
And all enveloped round with dismal clouds. 
That we their righteousness cannot perceive, 
Our duty bids us still to acquiesce 



Adam's equivocation. 119 

In all his counsels ; and, through faith, submit 

With resignation to his high decrees ; 

While revelation bids us bow to him. 

Confiding, where we cannot comprehend, 

It gives us reason to anticipate 

Some future light, which, issuing from his throne, 

Will clearly these astounding mysteries solve. 

But now to this narration we return : 
The Lord to Adam called, who trembling stood, 
Among the trees of Paradise concealed ; 
Though from the first beginning of his life 
Accustomed always, with ecstatic joy. 
To anticipate the coming of his God, 
Or of his angels, messengers of Heaven. 
When summoned from his hiding-place, his plea 
For his concealment from the blessed eyes 
Of his Creator, was the destitution 
Of covering for his nudity ; — that shame 
Had urged him to retirement, and that hence 
He dreaded to appear before the Lord. 
This plea his Judge assumed as evidence 
Of his transgression ; for, if innocent, 
He this deficiency had ne'er perceived. 
Said man, " I heard thy voice and was ashamed. 
For I was naked." But the Lord replied : 
" Who told thee thou wast naked? Of the fruit 
Of which I charged thee never to partake. 
Hast thou been eating?" He, convicted thus, 



■4 



* 

120 PEREGRINUS. 



Attempted no denial of the crime, 

But entered, most ungallantly, the plea, 

As in extenuation of his fault, 

Of circumvention, by his consort. Eve, 

With intimation that Almighty God, 

Who gave his partner as a needful help, 

Had been the donor of a noxious gift. 

She next, in palliation of the crime 

Of which she by the husband was accused, 

With similar facility, alleged 

That, having by the serpent been allured, 

She had partaken of forbidden fruit. 

Now to the full development we come 
Of God's benevolence. My child, attend. 
What could these wretched convicts then expect, 
(The poor progenitors of human kind,) 
But wrath, and vengeance, and immediate death, 
And hell's perpetual miseries, at the hand 
Of their offended Maker, King, and Judge? 
Then — 0, astonishing, unbounded love! 
To save the convicts from the flaming sword 
Of justice, for their execution drawn, 
Behold ! the great Messiah interposed, — 
The immortal Son of Heaven's Eternal King, — 
Coequal with his Father, — very God, 
Of very God, and equally divine. 
Omnipotent and Omnipresent too, 
Omniscient and Eternal ; — he stood forth 



THE TRINITY. 121 



««'- 



In heaven's almighty council, and -proposed 
(Moved by his vast compassion) to become, 
In his own person, like to sinful flesh ; 
He offered to assume the human shape 
And human nature, — thus becoming man, 
Born of a woman, so to bear the curse 
Now justly due to all of Adam's race ; 
To suffer all the miseries of life. 
Then die, in dreadful agonies, for all. 
He this accomplished in four thousand years ; 
And being still divine and human too. 
He forms a wondrous intermediate link 
Between the nature of the Great Supreme 
And that of man, the offspring of the dust. 

Such is the comment of our great divines 
On certain passages of Holy Writ ; — 
These truths their wisdom raises from the mines 
Of Scripture, otherwise still undiscerned ; 
For common minds could never have perceived 
This doctrine there ; but these are filled with grace 
And wisdom ; these explain the Holy Books ; 
They skilfully refine them, and display 
Their hidden treasures, — all their precious gold. 
Know, then, if Scripture were not clarified 
By these same holy ministers of Christ, 
We never could have ascertained, at all, 
The mysteries of the Trinity Divine ; 
But they to men's astonished ears proclaim 



11 



122 PEREGRINUS. 



The Eternal Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Three persons, in the Godhead, all combined 
To form one single, perfect Deity. 
Each person is Almighty ; each is God ; 
Each an Omniscient and Eternal Lord ; 
And yet the Christian verity denies 
Three deities, confessing only one. 

This combination of the Eternal Three, 
Substantially composing only one, 
The greatest doctors of the Christian church 
Could never yet explain or comprehend : 
In this obscurity, with clouds involved, 
To prove the life and vigor of our faith ; 
For he that in his very soul believes 
In holy revelation, while it seems 
Perplexed with contradiction, is a saint. 
Although we cannot, of ourselves, discern 
These doctrines in the Holy Bible penned, 
Not being stated in these very words 
In any of its writings yet extant, — 
Still, having now this information gained 
From Christian fathers and the holy creeds, 
In scattered fragments, we may plainly see 
These dogmas sometimes intimated there. 
From these positions what conclusions flow ? 
Whereas, such confirmations are produced 
To holy maxims, but for them unknown. 
These pious clerg)niien may well demand 



♦- 



man's destiny. 123 



Submission to their articles of faith ; 

And all the people must confess them true, — 

Their wisdom and their knowledge are so high, 

Their keen investigation is so deep, 

And such their piety, and such their grace. 

That we are nothing when compared with them. 

Moreover, in the holy creeds we learn 
That heretics, who wickedly reject 
The doctrine of the sacred Trinity, 
Have no salvation ; but will be condemned. 
In judgment, at the general assize. 
And banished from the presence of the Lord, 
To those dark, burning regions of despair, 
Erst for the devil and his angels made. 

It is by strong necessity compelled, 
That I have introduced the subject here ; 
For, certainly, before you fully learn 
The glorious doctrine of the Three in One, 
The mystery of salvation's glorious plan 
Cannot be clearly to your soul explained. 

Salvation ! — 't is a soul-refreshing theme, 
Replete with consolation, life, and peace ; 
When you the mysteries of salvation know, 
Your heart will vibrate with celestial joy. 
Beyond the power of language to proclaim. 

From all eternity Jehovah knew 
That man would listen to the tempter's voice, 



i- 



I 124 PEREGRINUS. 



And, disobeying his Creator's law, 
(An easy burden, and his sole command,) 
He, with his whole posterity, would fall 
Into a state of misery and sin ; 
And that by his transgression all mankind 
Would be subjected to the wrath of God, 
His high displeasure and eternal curse ; 
And, if not ransomed by the blood of one 
Who, of himself, with equity may claim 
To be coequal with the Lord of all, 
Must be immerged in everlasting woe, 
Beneath the pressure of eternal wrath. 

Here, said the child, may I presume to ask, 
If from eternity the fall was known 
By man's Creator, was it not designed? 

No, no, said she, my son ; as Milton says, 
With cogent reasoning, " Man himself decreed 
His own revolt ; not God ; if he foreknew, 
Foreknowledge had no influence on his fault. 
Which had no less proved certain, unforeknown." 

Dear mother, said the child, I cannot feel 
The cogency of reasoning such as this. 
Since God was man's Creator, and bestowed 
All those propensities which he possessed ; 
By him the net prepared was baited well. 
And crafty Satan from his prison loosed. 



^ 

COUNCIL OF god's ATTRIBUTES. 125 

To wheedle him upon the fatal snare. 

But — I have done. Dear mother, now proceed. 

Strange little creature ! who on earth before 
Was ever troubled with a child like you? 

As great interpreters of Holy Writ 
Inform us, long before the heavens were made, 
Long ere the earth was balanced in the air, 
A council of the Trinity was held, 
Within the temple's innermost recess, 
(That holy temple which has never felt 
The work of mortal or immortal hands, 
The bosom of the Deity — unpierced 
By archangelic or seraphic eyes ;) 
There all Jehovah's attributes combined 
In deep consideration of the fate. 
The lapse and final destiny of man. 
Long ere the fiat of Almighty power 
Had summoned human beings into life ; 
Before nonentity had yet conceived ; 
Before material creatures slumbered yet, 
Deep in the bosom of unconscious night ; — 
Then was the coming fall of man proclaimed 
To all the assembled attributes of God, 
And thence to all the inhabitants of heaven. 
With awful clangor, like the trumpet's sound. 
Which, borne aloft in Gabriel's mighty hand. 
To usher in old Time's concluding scenes. 
Will shake creation and awake the dead. 



II* 



126 PEREGRINUS. 

As soon as man's transgression was foretold, 
Tremendous Justice drew her fiery sword, 
And called for vengeance on his guilty head ; 
In thunder cried, impatient of delay : 
Take sudden vengeance ! let the rebel die, 
In all the horrors of despair and guilt ! 
I will be sated with his vital blood. 
Which to intoxication I shall quaff: 
Then shall my life-inebriated sword 
Rend all his entrails, riot in his heart, 
And feast upon his liver ! I have sworn 
That I will never, in the least, abate 
The full amount of his enormous dues ; 
His cries shall be unheeded, while in vain 
He prays for dissolution ! He shall live 
A dying life, and suffer living death 
In most tormenting anguish, till he pay 
The utmost farthing. This is my decree. 
I will have satisfaction. This shall stand 
Firm and unshaken as the throne of heaven ! 

She spoke, and frowning with an awful nod, 
In confirmation of her dreadful oath, 
Shook all the regions of celestial light. 

When Justice ended her terrific speech, 
Mild, tender Mercy gracefully arose, 
With anxious heart, and eyes suiiused with tears, 
While grief and pity for the human race 
Appeared in every gesture ; love untold 



•^y- 



-* 

mercy's intercession. 127 

Glowed in her eyes and in her visage shone ; 
And, with celestial eloquence, pronounced 
Her intercessions in behalf of man. 

Father of men and angels, God of love ! 
Who hast forever lent a gracious ear 
To my petitions, hear thy daughter now. 
Hear me. Almighty Father, in behalf 
Of thy late offspring, progeny of earth, — 
This soft, this very tender infant sprig, 
So easily by fraud satanic crushed. 
Extend compassion, I beseech thee now, 
Almighty Father, to the earliest pair, 
With all the generations to descend 
From these to periods which are most remote. 
Vouchsafe forgiveness to the sons of men. 
When they have learned repentance, being taught 
By thy chastising rod, 0, may they stand 
A second time as candidates for life ; 
(Must I, O Father, supplicate in vain ?) 
Receive them as probationers of grace : 
I will descend to purify their hearts ; 
In flowing streams of love I '11 wash away 
Their sinful stains — will purify and cleanse, 
And fit them for communion with thy saints, 
Who stand before thy everlasting throne. 
By gentle influence I will undertake 
To sanctify, and fit him to ascend 
To heaven's high regions, and forever dwell 



128 PEREGRINUS. 



In thy own temple, at the mercy seat 
Of him who is most holy and most high. 

Shall man to hopeless agony be driven, 
Who stood, so late, the favorite of the skies 
Jehovah's image, and his youngest child? 
The rigor of thy justice mitigate, 
And issue now thy warrant of reprieve, 
If aught the supplications can avail 
Of Mercy pleading with Creation's sire. 
Too short is man's probation ; while his foe, 
By whom he is inveigled and deceived. 
Is the arch seducer, an adept in guile. 
Too artful for the eldest sons of light 
To shun deception, or escape his snares. 
And shall man perish, being thus seduced? 
Shall Satan, then, be gratified, and see. 
With joy infernal, his poor victims writhe 
In torment and in never-ending woe ? 
Must vile and horrid fiends obtain their will, 
And ruin utterly the race of men 
By thee created, to repair the loss 
Of population in the upper worlds. 
Occasioned by their horrible revolt, 
And consequent ejection down to hell ? 
And, o'er the dupes of their infernal lies, 
Shall these in dark, malignant triumph howl. 
And grin, and mock their agonizing groans, 
Their piercing shrieks and unavailing cries ; 
Blaspheming heaven ; and with perpetual taunts. 



<»- 



^ 

mercy's intercession. 129 

With scoffs and jeers, exulting o'er their pray, — 
Their victims, won by stratagems and fraud, — 
While these are rolling on the burning waves 
Of that black ocean of extreme despair ? 

Most righteous Father, shall this infant, man, 
So destitute of knowledge and so young, 
Without experience, to prepare his mind 
To meet the fraud, the artifice, the wiles, 
Of that high tempter, who of old seduced 
A third part of the flaming sons of heaven, 
And drew them to his party ; — shall this child, 
Unversed in guile, suspecting no deceit, 
Be now to his vile artifice exposed. 
And so become the victim of his rage 
Against thyself, now wreaked on feeble man, 
As deemed a special object of thy care. 
And be forever ruined by his wiles ? 

Father of mercies and of grace ! 0, why, 
From his black prison of infernal night. 
Should thy great enemy be thus enlarged, 
To ply Satanic, diabolic arts. 
On these young creatures, unsuspicious babes? 
Who could expect them ever to withstand 
His cunning sophistry, which to refute 
Seraphic sages and archangels failed 1 
Shall he, indeed, be suffered now to roam 
Throughout creation, and hereby succeed 
Against this object of my hopes and cares ; — 



130 PEREGRINUS. 



This client dear, for whom I now entreat, 
While, with the keenest fervency of soul, 
I bow before thee with devotion pure, 
And while I, prostrate, in thy presence fall, 
In deep humility, and, as I pray 
With ardent zeal, embrace thy holy feet? 

Shall this grim monarch of the nether world 
Have such foundation for blaspheming boasts, 
That he, O Sire, can frustrate thy designs? 
That he, indeed, in one disastrous hour, 
" Has ruined six days' labor of a God" ? * 
Shall he have cause to glory in his deeds, 
Triumphing in deceptions, cursing thee. 
And all thy servants who preserve their faith 
Still uncontaminated and unmoved, — 
Saints, angels, brilliant seraphs, persevering 
As loyal subjects of thy holy Son ? 

On man, — prime object of his cruel rage. 
Because, of old, chief object of thy care, — 
Shall he forever exercise revenge. 
Inflicting most excruciating pangs? 
Wilt thou abandon him, and give him up 
To that arch enemy, whose sole design 
Against this infant, unoffending race 
Was instigated by the infernal spite 
Which moved this old oflfender to rebel 
Against thy council and Messiah's reign ? 

* Walts. 



^ ^ 

mercy's INTERCESSIOxNT. 131 



0, Sire, have I not ever been esteemed, 
Throug-h past eternity's unmeasured space, 
Thy darling attribute, thy favorite child ? 
Have I, thy darling, yet transgressed thy will? 
Or have I forfeited at all thy love ? 
Have not thy gracious purposes and mine. 
Without one deviation, been the same ? 
And thou and I, eternally, till now — 
Forever and forever, being one — 
Have we not found reciprocal delight, 
I in thy bosom to repose, and thou, 
My Sire, to cherish and caress me there? 

O, great Jehovah ! — O, creation's Lord ! 
KI am still thy favorite, hear my prayer, — 
My plea of pity for offending man ; 
O, let him find salvation, — bid him live ; 
In love renew his spirit ! I repeat, — 
If ever I was pleasing in thy sight, 
O, Father, hear my supplication now ! 
For poor unhappy man my vitals yearn ; 
I long for his redemption. I beseech. 
And, by our mutual confidence, implore 
Of thee, my Father, give him to my care, 
Henceforth to live as my adopted child. 
I promise to renew the sinner's heart, 
And render this to thee an offering pure, 
Completely cleansed by all-refining love ; 
And while benevolence renews the spirit, 



*- 



132 PEREGPJNUS. 



And gives him true repentance, my own hand 
Shall take the covering of guilt away, 
Spread o'er thy sacred image in his soul. 
Involving him in darkness, woe and death ; 
Eclipsing all the glories of thy face. 
Which shone serenely on his native state. 
He, being in thy likeness so renewed. 
Shall stand, unsullied, as a child of God, 
In faith, obedience, righteousness, and truth. 
Let this decree, my Father, pass thy lips : — 
" Man shall be pardoned." This is my request. 

Here Mercy, rising from her bended knees, 
With true and humble reverence, lowly bowed 
Before Jehovah's throne ; then sweetly stood, 
Adorned with beauty and immortal grace. 
To view the expressions of his shining mien, 
And anxiously awaited his reply. 

But here unbending Justice, with a voice 
Like -(Etna's rumbling, thundering, bellowing loud, 
Or, like unnumbered trumpets roaring, cried : 
Away with such degrading, shallow pleas ! 
Vindictive Justice shall be satisfied : 
I will have vengeance ! let the rebel die ! 
Let him be exiled from the paradise 
By heaven created for his blest abode ; 
And when his flesh has mingled with the dust, 
Let his immortal soul be driven away. 
With wrath and burning fury, down to hell ! 



THE DEMAND OF JUSTICE. 133 

The astonished child, here interposing, said, 
Dear mother, let me ask a question here. 
To Justice what advantage could accrue 
From burning sulphur, and tormenting fiends'? 
If these could purify the sons of earth 
From guilt, and all propensities for sin, 
Renew and make them holy, just and good, 
Then I myself could easily perceive 
How Justice may be satisfied in hell. 

His teacher, with expressions undefined. 
And intermingled, as he then observed. 
In her maternal face, where frowns and tears, 
The spirits both of sorrow and rebuke. 
Seemed struggling for dominion, thus replied : 
Dear child, be silent ; do not interrupt 
(As you quite often hitherto have done) 
My narrative by asking questions strange. 
On topics which no mortal here below. 
However learned or wise, can understand. 

Although 't was most uncourteous in my child 
To break the thread of my narration here, 
I '11 seize on this occasion to explain 
The mode I 've here adopted for instructing 
My young inquirer in the way of truth. 

Our Christian poets, and our great divines, 
Oft, speaking in a figurative style. 
Personify the attributes of God. 



12 



rffc,_ . ^ 

■ j 134 PEKEGRINUS. 

I 

j That is, they speak as if his attributes 

I Were each a person. So I 've spoken now 

I Of Justice and of Mercy, jarring powers, 

Or, attributes of Deity ; — each claims 

Preeminence in his eternal mind. 

Though Mercy is Heaven's favorite daughter, still 

In every litigation, all the claims 

Which Justice enters, to the very last 

And least iota of her full demands. 

Must be completely satisfied and paid. 

Before the plea of Mercy can be heard, 

With approbation, in the sacred court. 

These holy persons (so in figure called) 

Would in this litigation have remained 

In endless opposition, but for means 

Which Wisdom found to terminate the strife. 

Forgive me, said the inquiring child again ; 
I now conclude, from what our mother says, 
That all the instruction she has lately given 
Concerning Trinity, — (the Three-One-God,) — 
Was, in like manner, to my ear conveyed 
In enigmatic figures, which, I hope. 
She to my understanding will explain. 

0, no ! his teacher hastily exclaimed ; 
All this our ministers and great divines, — 
All this the fathers, in the holy creeds, — 
All this the general church, with one accord, — 



JUSTICE AND MEKCY. T-O 



Proclaim as doctrine which must be received 
In living faith, and treasured in the soul. 
They say, that whosoever would be saved 
Must always in his very heart believe, 
Without one symptom of demurring- doubt, 
The sacred mysteries of the great Triune. 

She pausing here, again her tyro spoke : 
O, mother, you are ever kind to me ; 
I pray, indulge me in a few remarks 
On heaven's great council, and the strange debate 
Between old Justice, terrible and wild. 
Whose flinty, rugged, and unfeeling heart 
Is cruel, fierce, and terribly severe, — 
And gentle Mercy, amiable and meek, 
Whose merits were degraded by my praise. 

Sweet Mercy ! how I love her for that plea, 
So full of tenderness for ruined man ! 
I wish that I could kneel before her throne, 
To worship her ; then press her lovely hand, 
With rapture, to my lips. My very soul 
Is languishing to know her blessed will ; 
Her dictates should be always my delight. 
Could I forever in her presence dwell ; 
Her wishes I 'd anticipate : I 'm sure 
I could not ever disoblige her once. 

How blest and happy were the universe, 
If God, the Almighty, Everlasting King, 

* ■ ______ c^ 



136 PEREGRINUS. 



Were, like his daughter Mercy, full of love, 
And with benevolence replete. I think 
If vv^e had only such a God as this, 
No mortal could be vi^icked. Mother Eve 
And Father Adam, had they seen her face. 
And felt her melting, heart-subduing power, 
And heard the charming music of her voice, 
I 'm sure, I 'm certain, never could have sinned. 

But I abhor stem Justice. ! she seems, 
In all the terrors of her maddening rage, 
Extremely rude and ugly to my sight. 
'T is quite impossible that any fiend 
Can be more cruel, more severe, than she. 

When, fiercely terrible, in heaven she stood, 
With rage and fury painted on her brow, 
And wrath and venom issuing from her lips, 
Oh I how could lovely Mercy bear to view 
Her frowning aspect and her glaring eyes, 
Like huge revolving globes of living fire ? 
Her terrors all are realized by me, 
Though stationed in a period far remote 
By fatal destiny ; — though dwelling here 
In these cold regions of benighted earth, 
A world far distant from heaven's awful scenes, 
Her dreadful stature — her tremendous mien, — 
Far waving through the council-room of God, 
Are all before me : I survey them now. 



-*' 



CHARACTER OF JUSTICE. 137 

I see her eyes flash lightning, and I hear 
Just now the thunders of her awful voice. 
I know she 's black and horribly deformed, ■— 
A huge, gigantic monster ; and I fear 
She '11 crush sweet Mercy underneath her feet. 

I 've heard you tell of General Michael's power ; 
I 've read that oft, in ancient days, he stood 
Chief General of the everlasting King, 
And fought the battles of Almighty God. 
If I were Michael, I would not endure 
Her presence in the skies ; but I would march 
With armies, — I would drive her out of heaven. 
When our good Washington ascends the sky, 
With Michael he will join and drive her out. 
The world of burning sulphur I believe 
Has native subjects well befitting her ; 
'Tis her own kingdom ; — let her govern hell. 
As Satan's consort, — this would please her well. 
I thought that justice something good implied. 
That righteous and justice meant the same. 
If so, then I am quite dissatisfied 
With her retaining such a glorious name. 
She 's so replete with malice and revenge, 
Of raging venom, tyranny, and wrath, 
This name is inappropriate ; — give her, then, 
A name that will her character express : — 
Vindictive Cruelty, — this term portrays 
The disposition of the horrid queen. 



12' 



138 PEREGRINUS. 



His teacher with a dreadful frown replied : 
Be silent, I command you ; say no more. 
Audacious mortal ! are you not afraid 
That God Almighty's swift avenging hand 
Will flaming lightning hurl and strike you dead 1 
Then plunge you into hell ? — How dare you speak 
Such blasphemies against the Power Supreme ? 
Presumptuous little creature ! — you blaspheme 
The justice of the Great Eternal King, — 
An attribute omnipotent in heaven. 
This I have told you was personified 
In those instructions which I lately gave. 
Though not a person, as to real fact, 
Full often do we find it so described 
In writings published by the great divines, 
When these would in sublimity display 
The truth and justice of the Eternal Mind, 
With all the sister attributes of God. 

You must repent of these presumptuous words, 
Which, reckless of their import, you have uttered 
Against the majesty of earth and Heaven ; 
Nor in oblivion dark your conscience lap. 
Heedless of these, your strange, enormous crimes. 

Long time, heart-stricken by her keen rebuke. 
In silent grief the trembling infant stood, 
Moveless, through want of muscular support ; 
Each fibre quivering at the nervous shock. 
As still his little aching, throbbing heart, 



*- 



HIS DESPAIR. 139 



With rapid palpitations, strove to burst 
From its enclosing barrier ; and the child 
In words of deep humility replied : 
Is not Jehovah infinitely great ? 
Can he be angry v^^ith a little child ? 
If he knows everything, he surely knows 
My fervent wishes all aspire to good ; 
He knows my wishes never to oifend 
Against the laws of righteousness and truth. 
If he knows all things, then he surely knows 
That I abhor to do an evil deed, 
To utter sinful words, or to admit 
Within my breast imaginations wrong. 
He sees me striving daily for the height 
Of perfect holiness and perfect love. 

But your instructions grieve me, — I shall die : 
They will destroy me. Oh ! I cannot live ! 
And if indeed there 's nothing yet to come, 
From my dear parents or the holy books. 
Or from '* the shining ministers of Christ," 
Which offers better prospects for the world 
Than all the theories which I yet have learned, 
I surely do not wish to live at all. 
I dread annihilation ; yet if these 
Horrific doctrines be correct, I wish 
That I were nothing, soul and body too. 

Did Heaven create the human race, at first, 
For wretchedness extreme ? My soul desires 

* — <^ 



.. ^ 

140 PEREGRINUS. 

A gentler, milder God, — a God of love. 
If God omnipotent were just and good, 
With what devotion would I him adore ! 
How would his love's strong influence expand 
Through all creation, and renew the whole ! 
How would mankind its energy divine, 
With all its spirit-renovating power, 
Confess and flourish in celestial life ! 
Love is Omnipotent, and mercy breathes 
A spirit which would captivate the world, 
While in obedience all our race would prove 
The joys of liberty and life divine. 

For Love I breathe ineflfable desires ; 
I strive to find him, and for this I roam 
Along the fields and through the opening glades. 
Of all inquiring : — Can you tell me where 
Almighty Love possesses an abode ? 
Where may the impress of his feet be seen, 
That I may follow to his secret place ? 

I thought the vernal green, the glowing flowers. 
From blooming trees, and herbs of various kinds, 
In charming whispers, gave me this reply : 
In us behold his footsteps ! — lo ! we feel 
Just now the pressure of his sacred feet. 
Our lips expanding with ecstatic smiles. 
With kisses to salute them as they pass. 
And their nectareous exhalations quaflf: 

■» 



^ — __ <ib 

ETERNAL LOVE. 141 

Then all our fragrant incense we return, 
Through all the fields, the forests, and the groves, 
To him that tinctured us with sweet perfumes, — 
Each flower an altar of Almighty Love. 

To me the sylvan choristers replied : 
Tis Love Almighty which allures our notes ; 
He breathes our music and inspires our songs : 
Join our devotions, and compose the lay ; 
Then we shall be your chorus, while you sing 
With us Immortal Love, — creation's soul. 

The twinkling stars to me sublimely said : 
In us appears this object of your search ; 
For Love Divine has kindled all our fires — 
By him we sparkle, and by him we shine. 

In waving lightning I beheld his sign ; 
Love's glowing flag was from the skies unfurled, 
Then, flashing sweetly, beckoned me to heaven, 
While thunder's answering confirmations roared, 
Which, echoed by the mountains, bade me come. 

Ten thousand times ten thousand voices more 
These glorious declarations all confirmed. 
But did they all deceive me ? — must I wake 
To recognize in all Eternal Wrath 1 

But now I recollect our mother said, 
A plan was in eternity devised 
By which those opposite contending powers — 
Stern Justice, full of terrible designs. 



142 PEREGRINUS. 



And Mercy, loveliest daughter of the skies, 

Would in their purposes be reconciled ; 

Through which, their high contentions laid aside, 

Thenceforward they would be forever one. 

Will she vouchsafe to show me all the means 

Of their conciliation ? Who stood forth 

As mediator of their strange debate, 

In this dread crisis ? — And what terms of peace 

Did he propose, which could extinguish strife 

Between the warring attributes of God 1 

And has this been accomplished 1 — have the two 

Been reconciled ? No seraph could believe 

That such a union ever would exist. 

Still, by some agent, as your words implied, 

(So I conceive,) this wonder has been wrought. 

I wait impatiently to hear the terms 

Of this surprising treaty in the heavens. 

Could these be merciful, and still comport 

In letter and in spirit with that oath 

Which awful Justice in her fury swore ? 

Thus having spoken, our inquirer paused. 
Observing anxiously his teacher's mien, 
And noting well the expressions of her eyes, 
While he with quivering expectations stood 
To hear these awful mysteries explained ; 
Till he, with disappointment and regret, 
Heard his instructress utter this reply : 

I should have answered long ago, my child, 



•# 



PARTING ADMONITIONS. 143 

The interrogations which you now propose, 

Had you not occupied, from day to day, 

With strange objections, more than half my time. 

At present, I must leave you to reflect 

Upon my sayings, and upon your own. 

I 've tarried quite too long ; my house affairs 

Now call imperiously ; I must attend. 

Retire, my son, and fervently entreat, 

With true, sincere, devout, and humble prayer, 

The Almighty Father to forgive your sins, 

Your unbelief, and all the naughty words 

Which you have spoken, having rashly talked 

Against the justice of Almighty God. 

And when, by your confessions, prayers, and tears, 

Jehovah's absolution is obtained. 

Beseech him then forever to endue 

With humble resignation to his will 

Your heart, now murmuring against the truth — 

Your little heart, which now, by Satan moved, 

Rebels against his everlasting power, — 

Against Jehovah's majesty supreme, — 

His sovereignty and his unbounded sway. 



FOURTH BOOK. 

These pious lectures being thus adjourned, 
The little subject of our brief memoir 
Was left to meditate and grieve alone ; 
Now in his sorrows wandering through the fields, 
Afflicted with the black and dismal view 
Of that grim portrait by his teacher drawn 
Of vengeance, wrath, and cruelty, in heaven ; 
Now sitting, unobserved by human eyes, 
Beneath the branches of his favorite oak. 
Deep musing, with anxiety extreme. 
The sequel of the tragedy to know. 
Of which he now had learned these early scenes. 
He thus employed this intervening time 
Till, on the tardy rolling minutes borne, 
Appeared the promised, long expected hour, 
When his instructress was again prepared 
To satisfy the queries of her child, 
In hopes more deeply to imbue his mind 
With all the mysteries of that old belief 
Which had, for many centuries, stained the church, 



INQUIRIES RESUMED. 145 

E'er since the fatal period of her fall, 

What time (base ingrate !) she forsook her Lord, 

Through false traditions, following idols vain. 

Our little tyro, having found at last 
His tender parent seated by herself, 
Unoccupied with her domestic cares. 
With eager grasp on this occasion seized, 
His knowledge of religion to increase. 
And learn the dealings of Almighty Power 
With his poor feeble children here on earth. 
He, bowing low, repeated his request 
Before presented, now to be informed 
What gentle spirit mediated peace, 
Of old, between the high contending powers — 
Sweet Mercy, full of gentleness and love, 
And that grim terror of the upper skies 
Called Justice, (though I really think misnamed,) 
So cruelly vindictive and severe. 
And what the terms which Justice could accept, 
In unison with her enormous oath. 
Which still could satisfy and please the mind 
Of that dear pattern of benevolence. 
That glory of the sempiternal worlds. 
Called Mercy ; who, to my imagination, seems 
The model and the fount of every grace, — 
Love, truth and equity, in one combined. 

His teacher answered, (while expressions kind, 
In gesture and in countenance displayed, 

^ # 

13 



^ 

146 PEKEGRINUS. 



Were such as proved her dubious of the effect 

Within her pupil now to be produced 

By those horrific doctrines which, alas ! 

'Twas her unhappy destiny to teach,) 

My son, as, veiled in figures, we conveyed 

To you the knowledge of celestial truths, 

Two attributes of heaven's immortal King 

(Two only) were presented to your sight ; 

The disaccording attributes divine, 

Whose names demand no repetition here, 

Respecting whose conciliatioa now, 

With visible emotion, you inquire. 

So, veiled in figure, we must here reveal, 

With joy, another attribute of God, 

Sublimely great, to your admiring eyes. 

Called Wisdom. With the Deity she dwelt 

Before his earliest sons in heaven appeared — 

Before the morning stars together sung, 

Or seraphs flamed before him. She, as now, 

Eternally was nurtured in the breast 

Of God Omnipotent. She drew the plan 

Completely of the central heaven of heavens. 

Where stands Jehovah's throne. She fixed the laws 

Of its unnumbered, circumvolving spheres, 

Before the bosom of Nonentity 

Conceived the embryos, when he first resolved 

To call them into being. She alone 

Controls the motions of our heavenly orbs, 

Where suns and planets in due order roll, 



4>— < 

THE SWORD OF JUSTICE. 147 

And glaring comets, with enormous trails, 
Their inconceivable elipses spin. 

Now while inexorable Justice strove 
Concerning man, as you 've already learned, 
With Mercy, near the everlasting throne, 
And while no termination of their strife 
Appeared in prospect, then the eternal Sire 
Thus interposed to end the long debate : 
" Thou, Mercy, art indeed my darling child, 
And I delight in granting thy requests, 
Whenever possible ; but well thou knowest 
That Justice is omnipotent in heaven. 
In our high chancery she sits supreme. 
And irreversible is her decree. 
She now is urgent to obtain her dues. 
And cannot be denied. Her flaming sword 
Is drawn already, and its sheath destroyed. 
We 've seen it flashing lightning through the air ; 
We 've heard its scabbard fall, with thundering noise ; 
We 've seen it in a glowing furnace melt, 
And burn with inextinguishable fire, 
Till every particle was quite consumed. 
This sword, now thirsting for the sinner's blood. 
Must still the inebriating fluid quafi", 
Forever and forever : this will rend. 
With boundless fury and eternal rage. 
His liver, and upon his vitals feed ; 
Which will be renovated, to endure 



— — # 

148 PEREGRINUS. 

This raging fury, this avenging wrath, 

Hopeless of termination or of rest. 

Or least abatement of its fiery strokes. 

The dreadful venom of her poisoned steel 

Shall wither all his strength, and fiercely burn 

Through every artery and every vein, 

(In febrile torrents, shriveling every nerve,) 

And fill the heart with anguish, while the blade 

Is with a renovating power endued, 

To slaughter, and to vivify the dead ; 

That man, still dying, and reviving still, 

May live forever, yet forever die : 

So shall he suffer everlasting pains, 

In all the agonies of living death. 

The sword which rives his heart unites and heals 

The severed parts ; — so shall it never cease 

To palpitate and bleed, till he has paid 

The boundless forfeiture of his offence ; 

Since he (poor little reptile of the dust !) 

Presumes to perpetrate a horrid crime ! 

As vast as the immensity of space, 

And coextensive with Almighty power. 

Shall he (vile, tiny atom!) dare to fill, 

Stain, and pollute immensity with sin, 

Yet still escape the infinity of death, 

Which he so eminently has deserved ? 

No ! — he assuredly must be condemned 

To writhe forever in the burning lake, 

And pray for dissolution ; but in vain 



THE almighty's DECISION. 149 

The wretch shall for annihilation plead, 

In that dark region of eternal night, 

The realm of horrors and of black despair. 

This is the rebel's doom, though I incline 
To Mercy's side ; for gentleness and love, 
Peace and benevolence, are my delight. 
This is indeed the rebel's fearful doom ; 
These are the mandates of unchanging fate, 
Which must, without one variation, stand 
Eternally established and unmoved, 
Like this foundation of the throne of God. 

" Such is my irreversible decree ; — 

Except by Wisdom's all inventing mind 

Some equitable scheme be soon devised 

To reconcile, in one, the opposing claims 

Of Justice and of Mercy. 

Be it known 

To all and each and every one concerned, — 

To all the hosts of heaven, — these fair demands, 

Which Justice in her equity has filed 

In our high chancery, must be satisfied ; 

Her smallest item cannot be effaced 

Nor cancelled, till she of her own accord 

Shall take her stand in our celestial court, 

And signify her full and free assent. 

And this, the debt unpaid, she '11 never do." 

The Almighty spoke ; and all the heavenly powers 
Stood in mute expectation, — doubting stood, — 



13^ 



150 PEREGRINUS. 



While each seraphic, each angelic breast, 
Were now with terrible forebodings filled ; 
Since quite impossible it seemed to all 
That ever an agreement could be formed 
In heaven between these opposite extremes ; 
Hence, every one, without exception, feared 
Vindictive Justice would obtain her will. 

All were impatient now to ascertain 
If sacred Wisdom could invent a plan 
To rescue mortal from the impending fate 
Now threatening ruin to his naked head ; 
And if her mediation could avail, 
Producing a felicitous result 
Of these discussions in the worlds of light. 

A solemn pause ensued, till Wisdom rose 
With dignity, and thus divinely spoke : 
Almighty Sire of angels and of men, — 
(For I address thee as the sire of men, 
Though not created, — since the high decree 
Concerning their creation was divulged 
Long since to all the inhabitants of heaven,) — 
To these assembled powers thou hast declared 
Thy predilection to the cause of peace, — 
Thy sympathy for Mercy, while she pleads 
For all the human race, obnoxious made 
To Justice now, terrific in demands. 
I, Father, in obedience to thy call, 
Within my spirit deeply have revolved 



. — -^ 

wisdom's plan of salvation. 151 

The dreadful topic ; and with care have turned, 

In this investigation, all the leaves 

Of this huge volume of the legal code 

Of vast eternity ; yet I have found 

In my research but one sufficient price, — 

One ransom only which can aught avail 

To rescue mortals from eternal death, 

The just, appropriate wages of their sin. 

Then, be it known, that no redeeming power, 

No offering for the ransom of mankind. 

By whomsoever tendered or preferred, 

Whose value is not infinitely great, 

Can be accepted, in the offender's place, 

To purchase his salvation ; — to atone 

For his rebellion, and to reconcile 

The Majesty of Heaven to sinful men. 

One mean, and only one, I 've ascertained, 

One substitute alone, by which the claims 

By fierce avenging Justice duly filed 

Can e'er be cancelled, and the sinner freed 

From his immeasurable guilt, and saved 

From wrath which dooms him to eternal flames. 

By me infinity has been surveyed. 

And all eternity inspected well : 

Her dark and secret caverns I 've explored ; 

I 've counted all the treasures of the mines 

In her immense futurity concealed ; 

I 've footed all, and told the enormous sum : 

But all the amount was infinitely less 



: * 

152 PEREGRINUS. 

Than everlasting Equity requires. 

The children of eternity, their powers, 

Their virtues, and their merits, I have weighed, 

Uniting all the aggregates in one ; 

But, all combining, never can avail 

To rescue sinners from the torturing sword 

Now jfiercely waving in her awful hand, 

Which, high uplifted with portentous blaze, 

Glares horrid light, a sign of woe and death. 

Lo ! infinite in anger, there she stands, 

Prepared for such achievements of revenge, 

That all the spirits resident in heaven 

A^'^ith horrified astonishment and grief 

Survey this apparatus now prepared 

For long enduring torture ; — heaps on heaps 

Of unconsuming sulphur, which they see 

Is kindled by the lightning of her eyes 

To all-devouring flames ; while raving fiends, 

With mad, vindictive sentiments inspired, 

Through their malicious, black, infernal ranks, 

Stand ready now to execute her will. 

Archangels, rising from their shining thrones, 

And shuddering with anticipations dire, 

Observe the scenes of vengeance here revealed. 

The only way that man's impending doom. 
Confirmed and sealed in our celestial court, 
And by the fates on adamant engraved. 
Can be averted, I will now declare. 



wisdom's plan of salvation. 153 ! 



If one, coequal with the Great Supreme, — 
Coequal with heaven's everlasting Sire, — 
Should his unbounded merit interpose 
Between this object of Jehovah's wrath 
And Equity, his sworn, embittered foe, 
(The chief of goddesses, a sceptred queen, 
And universal chancellor, most high :) 
Should this Almighty Potentate advance, 
Himself presenting to the burning sword 
Of Justice, most inexorably severe ; 
And, to appease her, having first assumed 
The human form, should suffer in the stead 
Of this depraved, rebellious child of earth, 
Then she, without demurring, would accept 
Of this superior victim, and would wreak 
Her vengeance on his unoffending head ; 
(Delighted with a sacrifice so great 
As God incarnate in a human form ;) 
And give her rage immeasurable scope 
Upon her victim holy and divine. 
Thus man may find salvation — be restored 
From utter ruin, and redeemed from hell, 
On stipulated terms, to be arranged 
Hereafter by the high contending powers — 
Stern Justice, never yet with pity moved, 
And Mercy, most benevolent and kind. 
Then confidence may once again prevail, 
And peace and amity may be restored. 
Now wandering exiles from the court of heaven. 



^ 

154 PEREGKINUS. 

Here Wisdom, robed with dignity sublime, 
Thus having ended her mysterious speech, 
Again was seated on her shining throne, 
Surrounded with an atmosphere of light, 
Whose dazzling splendors her all-piercing eyes. 
Unfailing, never sleeping, (only hers,) 
Could view uninjured, — penetrate, — endure. 

Then rigid Justice, from her burning seat. 
With reverend, grave, and solemn motion, rose, 
And with less perturbation than before, 
Yet with determined aspect, thus began : 

Great Sire of all ! to thee alone I bow 
Before the congregated hosts of heaven ; 
And since, at thy omnipotent command, 
A sapient mediator has appeared, 
A reconciliation to effect 
Between myself and Mercy, I arise 
To answer her proposals, and to speak 
With calmness and deliberation due. 
Concerning that sublime and holy scheme. 
Which, standing as conciliator here. 
She, from her treasury, from the eternal deep 
Of sapience, fathomed by herself alone, 
Has drawn, and so before the view displayed 
Of God and angels here in council met. 

Then be it known to all and every one 
Who sit with us in council, or attend, 



<ja> 



t ■ 

justice's decision. 155 

Anxious to ascertain the great result 

Of our deliberations — I remain 

(Whatever strange vicissitudes occur, 

Whatever instability of soul, 

Or transmutations of inferior minds) 

The same immutable, unvarying power, 

Firm in my equity, without a change ; 

And hence this oath irrevocable stands. 

Which I, in righteous indignation, swore ; — 

I will be satisfied ; and vengeance due 

Shall make atonement for the sinner's crime. 

But shall this vile offender die, alone? 

Not so, indeed ; his everlasting death 

Were trivial, — were an expiation small. 

With him, his whole posterity shall die, 

Since all participated in his guilt ; 

Because the covenant with Adam made 

Included all his offspring, who receive 

From him, as parent of the human race, 

By common generation, their descent. 

Still, notwithstanding these, my just demands. 

Are incontestible, and clear to all ; 

And I to Mercy's plea can never yield. 

As moved by pity towards a sinful wretch, 

Who my displeasure wittingly incurs. 

By doing what my righteous law forbids ; 

And, though my claims can never be relaxed, 

Without a full equivalent preferred, 

In which all heaven my equity perceives, 



-» 



* 



156 PEREGRINUS. 



Yet I am willing to accommodate 
Poor weeping Mercy, and relieve her breast, 
If means can be discovered which comport 
With my unsullied honor — means which give 
To God's unvarying Justice all her due. 

Eternal Wisdom has proposed a plan, 
Whereby she hopes, hereafter, to unite 
Our differing claims, and satisfy us both. 
To this, if practicable, I accede. 
Let Wisdom, then, this holy being find, 
A nd Mercy lead him forward to the test ; 
Then let him give us demonstrations strong 
Of kindness, such as never was conceived 
Till sacred Wisdom's all-inventing mind. 
This very day, the wondrous scheme devised. 

If one, as she proposes, should appear, 
Filled with divinity, with glory crowned, 
Induced by Mercy to endure the load 
Of wrath, of vengeance, due to guilty man. 
In his own person, — if he will assume 
Man's fallen nature, and in this fulfil 
All righteousness, arrayed with human flesh. 
Then yield himself a willing sacrifice, 
An offering to appease the immortal wrath 
Which burns divinely in my sacred breast, 
And ransom man, — then I will be content 
My vengeance on this holy one to wreak, — 
To hurl ray lightning at his glorious head. 



-* 



justice's decisio'n. 157 

And bid my angry thunder ings round him roar, 

While plagues and withering anguish I will drive 

Through all the deep recesses of his soul : 

I in the breast of innocence will sheathe 

My piercing sword, to banquet in his heart ; 

I '11 tinge my garments with his flowing blood, 

And quaff it to appease my flaming ire. 

Then with the sacred fluid of his veins 

I '11 sprinkle well Jehovah's burning throne, 

(With anger reddened to the very base,) 

To extinguish its immeasurable heat. 

Now, should it prove, indeed, as we suspect. 
That man's redemption cannot be achieved, — 
That holy Justice be from censure clear, 
Both now and ever, we to all declare. 
That, in the groans of purity divine, 
Immense perfection, and eternal love, 
Sublimer pleasure would be realized 
Than all the pangs of this delinquent race 
Through vast eternity can ever give. 
Whenever God Almighty shall appear, 
To die in substitution for my foes. 
On stipulated terms, I will agree 
With Mercy ; and salvation will bestow 
On such as she may choose, by special grace, 
For heirs of glory and immortal life. 
These, her elected ones, she may renew 
In heart by her regenerating power, 



14 



-— ♦ 

158 ' PEREGRINUS. 

Nor shall my influence be wanting here ; 
Her children shall be justified by me, 
And by celestial Wisdom. (Three in One.) 
She, through the victim's sanctifying blood, 
May reinstate them as the sons of heaven, 
Heirs with the Father, and coheirs with him. 

But as for non-elected sons of men. 
Who, being non-elect, are not redeemed 
By that all-potent sacrifice prepared 
By Wisdom's genius and by Mercy's love, — 
We '11 grant, to such, an ordinary call, 
(In lieu of that effectual one bestowed 
On God's elect, to renovate their souls, 
Attracting them into the cleansing bath 
Which washes all this filthiness away. 
Whence they are wafted to the gospel feast, 
Arrayed in garments by another wrought 
In righteousness, — in pure unsullied white.) 

As said before, to reprobates I grant 
(To prove the equity of all my ways) 
A common call, — a summons, — from above, 
To come and wash them in the cleansing fount 
Set open freely and alike to all. 

Make proclamation, — " Whosoever wills, 
Come to the living waters ;. freely come ; — 
And, bathing there, be purified from sin. 
Behold ! the waters of salvation flow 



*- 



«*> ^ — 

justice's decision. 159 



For you, without exception or reserve, 

To quench your raging thirst, and to renew 

In your dead souls the principle of life." 

Invite, with no exception, every one, 
Of all the tribes and families of earth, 
To banquet on the gospel's wine and milk, 
Without a purchase, or demanded price. 
Do this, that no extenuating plea 
In favor of the sinners be advanced. 
When I shall sit in judgment on their souls, 
To doom the wretches to eternal woes. 
So every reprobate, accursed mouth 
Shall be reduced to silence ; all the throng 
In clear and manifested guilt shall stand, 
Self-convicts, at the inexorable bar. 
The non-elected ones shall not receive 
From Heaven new hearts nor renovated wills ; 
And, not receiving these, can never come. 

But why cannot these reprobates return 
Without the gift of renovating grace ? 
Because, by nature, they abhor the truth, 
Despising Wisdom, and her holy ways. 
Hence inability, as all may see. 
Is really but another name for sin. 
Now who, in judgment, would presume to say. 
My enmity, O God, was so intense. 
Against thy character, against thy laws, 
I never could endure to seek thy face ? 



«*- 



-* 



160 PEREGRINUS. 



This moral impotence is all my plea : 
I plead this hatred as a full excuse 
For having disregarded every call 
Vouchsafed, in pity, to my wretched state? 

The common call which reprobates received, 
Displayed, hereafter, to assembled worlds, 
Shall prove the perfect equity of God. 
So, when their dreadful sentence is pronounced, 
And they for execution handed o'er 
To yelling furies and Tartarean fiends, 
Then Wisdom, joined with Mercy, may unite. 
With me, to tantalize their keen despair. 
Reminding them of many a gracious call. 
Which, like deaf adders, they refused to hear. 
While, writhing with their agonies, they plead 
For black annihilation to expunge 
And blot them out of being, we can say, — 
Ye hardened wretches, now forever lost, 
Why was your Maker's kindness so abused. 
While he was waiting with long-suffering love, 
And in the gospel offered you his grace ? 
Why did ye not improve the accepted time 1 
Why did you scorn salvation's glorious day 1 
Behold, the harvest is forever past. 
The summer ended, but yourselves unsaved. 
Now, you may rattle your infernal chains. 
In your dark, horrid dungeon of despair. 
With flames sulphureous burning ; you may howl. 



justice's decision. 161 

And, roaring with your anguish, shriek aloud. 
For some alleviation of your pains 
Beseeching Heaven : — unheeded are your cries ; 
The agonizing torments of your souls 
Are disregarded by your nearest friends. 
Through all eternity's perpetual round. 
Henceforward, shall the brazen vault of hell 
Echo, and still reecho, with your groans. 

Such we pronounce the never ending fate 
Of hardened reprobates. Can they expect 
From us a better sympathy than this, 
Or other consolation at our hands 1 
Let these contaminated wretches know 
That in their misery Justice will delight, 
And in the augmentation of their woes 
Experience equal increase of her joy : 
Wisdom, participating in our mirth, 
Will ridicule their unavailing prayers, 
Mock their contortions, and deride their pangs. 
E'en Mercy's patience, which endured so long. 
While vainly laboring to secure their peace. 
And offering pardon through a Saviour's blood, 
Will then be quite exhausted ; she no more 
Will seek for their salvation, but will frown, 
Indignant that her long continued love, 
And all her indefatigable toils. 
Should be so ill requited ; well prepared 
By memory of the ingratitude and scorn 



14^ 



162 PEREGRINUS. 



With which they treated her long-sufTering grace, 
To mock, with us, their agonizing throes, 
And bid the furies, to their hearts' content, 
Ply their tormenting arts and torturing skill ; 
In maddening reels to make the wretches dance, 
On hell's hot, glowing adamantine floors, 
To music of envenomed scorpion whips. 
Resounding through the black Tartarean realm. 
The frightful dissonance of howling fiends ; 
Continued roarings of sulphureous flames ; 
Harsh thunderings, shaking " Erebus profound," 
And burning lava, with its sluggish waves. 
Among the rocks, by hurricanes impelled, 
Or rushing down, as cataracts of fire; — 
All these, uniting with horrific noise. 
Swell high the music of the infernal choir. 

Lo ! here the justice of Almighty God 
Is in its high sublimity displayed. 
In so chastising his rebellious sons 
With all the scourges of eternal death. 
So shall the fame of heaven's immortal Sire 
Be through the universe exalted high. 
And hence a revenue of glory spring. 
All to the honor of his sovereign power. 
And righteous dealings with the sons of men. 

Such, then, shall be the treaty which, induced 
By Wisdom's mediations, I arose 



«- 

justice's decision. 163 



To offer Mercy, as the terms of peace 
To be concluded in the case of man. 
If these be ratified, I then agree 
To his salvation, if the substitute 
Proposed by Wisdom really can be found. 
She hears my offer. Now she cannot hope — 
And, therefore, never will presume to seek — 
For better terms. I pause for her reply. 

Our kind instructress, sighing, rested here, 
And thus her catechumen interposed : 
Dear mother, say no more ! My heart is sick ! 
My head is dizzy ! — O ! I cannot live ! 
I wish that God had never made the world : 
Or, having this created, O ! I wish 
He, at the fall, had uncreated man. 
And flung him back to nothing ! Why, — ! why 
Did he reserve him for these dreadful woes, — 
For anguish, horrors, and unceasing pangs 1 

But have you, mother, then, completed now 
The proofs which I expected to receive, 
Of love divine, from these maternal lips? 
Is this the goodness of Almighty God 
Towards his own offspring? And must all mankind, 
In every age, till nature's closing scene, 
Participate in sufferings and in guilt 
For sins committed long before their birth ? 



# '%> 



164 PEREGRINUS. 

How horrible to me appear the terms 
By Justice offered ! — but I now forbear. 
Henceforward I '11 endeavor to abstain 
From giving vent to this consuming fire 
Which burns within me and destroys my peace ; 
Since all that issues from this troubled mind, 
This aching heart, is by our mother deemed 
So wicked. But may I presume to hope 
That Mercy, in the council of the skies, 
With noble indignation, did reject 
The cruel and insulting terms proposed 
By Justice, in her fury ; and that God, 
The immortal Father and eternal King, 
Would never sanction these deceitful plans, 
Nor Wisdom favor them. To me they seem 
Replete with haughtiness and black with fraud, 
Surcharged with cruel and malignant spite. 
With all that 's odious, and with all that 's vile. 
I never dreamed that qualities like these 
Dwelt ever in good persons here below ; 
Much less that such existed high in heaven ; 
And, least of all, in heaven's eternal Sire. 

Our teacher did not, as before, rebuke 
These observations of her anxious child ; 
But now, with gentle kindness in her looks. 
With smiles and tears commingled, answered thus 

To soothe the anguish of your throbbing breast, 
My son, the darling of your mother's heart, 



<* 



THE ARMINIANS. 165 



Duty and inclination both agree 

To give you pleasing information here. 

That you with higher relish might enjoy 
The liberal doctrines of Jehovah's grace, — 
His equity, his wisdom, and his love, — 
We first have given you this high-toned report 
Concerning articles in heaven proposed 
By Justice as the only terms of peace 
Betwixt sweet Mercy and her rigid self. 
Which we 've extracted from the records kept 
By Calvinistic doctors of the church, 
Who, with assertion bold, declare themselves 
The only orthodox below the skies, — 
The only evangelical on earth. 
But I must tell you that another school 
Of learned doctors wholly disagree 
With Calvinists concerning this report, 
Denouncing it as libellous and false, — 
As vain, calumniating, and absurd. 
Abusing Justice and defaming Heaven. 

The theologic teachers who condemn 
The doctrines and the articles of faith 
Professed by haughty Calvin ist divines 
Are called Arminians. Strongly these deny 
That ever Equity was so unjust, 
So cruel, so deceitful, as she stands 
Delineated in the horrid draught, — 
The offspring of Genevan Calvin's brain. 



*> 



166 PEREGRTNUS. 



They say that Justice offered, in exchange 
For that all-holy substitute proposed, 
To give to gentle INIercy all mankind ; 
And that she did, with open heart, accept 
The offering which by Wisdom was devised, 
As full atonement for the sins of all ; — 
That every article which she prepared 
Was such as Mercy's judgment well approved, 
And while their mildness gratified her soul, 
Their fairness gave her spirit full content. 
She claimed no more than needful to sustain 
Her righteous character without reproach ; 
Allowing gentle Mercy to possess, 
As her own children, all and every one 
Whom she, by any method, could attract 
Into the way of virtue, through the blood 
Of that all-holy victim, who should bleed 
To make a full atonement for the sins 
Committed by the whole of Adam's race. 
They say that, as her voluntary act, 
Moved by her magnanimity alone, 
Eternal Justice issued this decree ; 

When once our articles are ratified, 
We authorize, thenceforward, and empower 
Fair Mercy, in the use of righteous means, 
To lead the human progeny to God : 
Hence, when the mighty labors of her love, 
And her philanthropy, are once begun, 



•»> 



DECREE OF JUSTICE. 167 



She, for the occasion, then shall be supplied 
With high commissions from our sacred hand, ^ 
Signed by the Almighty Father ; — then confirmed 
By our affixing heaven's eternal seal, 
Investing her with all-sufficient power 
To summon to her aid the armies bright 
Which follow Michael, on their golden wings, 
Through all the unmeasured, pure, ethereal plains 
Of our unbounded empire, rank and file, 
In* heavenly order ranged : their potent chief, 
With all the archangels under his command, 
And every subaltern of every rank, 
Shall be at her disposal. She may call 
Seraphic princes from their flaming thrones. 
And all the glorious potentates of heaven. 
With their subjected legions, from the skies : 
All these her requisitions shall attend, 
In bands, or singly, as the case demands. 
Whenever needed hi her enterprise 
Of high benevolence, to rescue men 
From deep perdition and the powers of hell. 
And being thus supported, while she holds 
Throughout creation, howsoe'er employed, 
Angelic legions and seraphic hosts 
In strict subjection to her holy will, 
Who shall, in destined order, ready stand 
To waft her in the chariot of her love. 
As pioneers, to smooth her glorious way, 
Or to resist the armies of the foe. 



* 



16S PEREGRINUS. 

When warring' 'g•ainst^the object of her care. 
Her Hands may qualify, prepare, ordain, 
As many heralds as her cause requires 
Among- the sons of men, to publish peace, 
Life and salvation, in the Saviour's name. 
Through all the regions of the peopled earth, 
Proclaiming loudly that redemption's price, 
As tendered once, has been received above, 
A full atonement for the human race. 
Securing pardon equally for all 
Who do not madly slight the proffered boon. 

Still further : those Arminian teachers state 
That sacred Justice, in her high decrees, 
Allowed these holy ministers of God, 
Sent forth by Mercy to reform mankind, 
To use the artillery of the infernal realm 
To frighten mortals to the terms of life : 
To plant their batteries full against the face 
Of those self-righteous ones who lie intrenched 
In false pretensions and delusions vain. 
Empowered to wield the lightning of the skies. 
And thunders of Mount Sinai, — thus to lay 
At once their towering, pharisaic hopes 
In smoky ruins, level with the ground. 
Till their hypocrisy is all consumed ; — 
To thunder awful terrors in the ears 
Of men profanely hardened in their sins, 
Who, deaf to evangelic music, sleep 



«> 



ARMINIAN DOCTRINES. 169 

In moral death ; — to summon them to rise 
From death itself, to renovated life. 

The followers of Arminius here observe 
That Calvin's doctrine of the common call 
Reflects dishonor on the inventer's heart, 
And indicates it as a cage of fraud, 
A den of passions cruel and malign — 
Fit parent to his theologic scheme ; 
A rude, misshapen pile, where he protrudes 
This dogma to the general public gaze, 
In horrid, bold relief — in sculpture black — 
A glaring insult in the face of Heaven. 
They further say, these ordinary calls 
Of cruel Calvin, and the ruder Knox, 
May be designed by such appropriate names 
As shams, delusions, mockeries, and lies. 
They say that Justice was sincere in all 
That she permitted Mercy to proclaim 
To all the progeny of sinful man ; — 
That she had no intentions to delude 
Poor wretched mortals with unreal hopes 
Of peace and pardon ; — that her righteous hands 
Present a crown of never-ending life 
To every sinner, not excepting one. 
Who does not slight the inestimable gift ; — 
That such accommodations she proposed 
To Mercy, saying. Whosoever wills 
(That is, whoever in his heart desires) 



15 



170 



PEREGRINUS. 



To be partaker of the wine and milk 

Of gospel grace, and its life-giving bread, 

Has my permission freely to obtain 

These proffered bounties, that his soul may live. 

If, then, salvation's scheme be such indeed 
As by this learned college testified 
With fervent zeal, and proved by Holy Writ, 
Then Justice, with sincerity, allowed 
(Man being ransomed by a sacrifice 
Of value infinite and all divine) 
High Mercy to proclaim to all our race 
Redemption from the all-consuming wrath 
Of " holy vengeance," which can ne'er be quenched. 
All this is Mercy's province and delight ; 
And being thus commissioned, thus empowered, 
She offers liberation to the world, 
With full emancipation from the chains, 
The dreadful thraldom, of eternal death. 
Upon condition of their own good works. 
Repentance, faith, and persevering grace. 

As great Arminius and his college say. 
These were the very articles proposed 
By awful Justice, when, at Wisdom's beck, 
And her great Father's simultaneous nod, 
She, standing in heaven's council, offered peace 
To gentle Mercy, who for milder terms 
With tears had supplicated, while in vain 



<^- 



* — ■ ] * 

ARMINIAN DOCTRINES. ' 171 



She lowly bowed before the flaming throne 
Of venerable Justice, whose firm heart, 
Inexorable, rigid, and severe, 
Is never softened in the least degree, 
Nor by most eloquent persuasions moved, 
Nor tears, nor supplications, to abate 
One item rendered in her full account. 

They say that Mercy was herself convinced 
By Wisdom's reasoning, cogent and divine. 
That heaven's Almighty Parent were disgraced, 
In his eternal equity, if man, 
Without a full atonement, were released 
From his strong obligation to endure 
In his own person all the law demands ; — 
To suffer, in sulphureous, living flames, 
Unceasing vengeance and eternal pains. 

Such is Arminian doctrine. This, I hope, 
With reason and with Scripture too comports, 
In lateral cohesion with the word, — 
At least, much nearer than the system framed 
By Calvin istic builders in the church ; 
And this, we hope, far better will accord 
With your own preconceptions of the truth 
Than did the dreadful statement made before, 
Extracted from our old Genevan guides, 
Which lately most severely shocked and grieved 
The tender feelings of my precious child. 

In this more liberal system we perceive, 



<» 



172 PEREGRINUS. 



When sinners at the bar of judgment stand, — 

The silent generations being raised 

From their dank chambers, — none will be condemned 

But such as, in despite of proffered grace. 

Rush headlong to destruction, winning hell 

By persevering in their evil ways : 

These now their just inheritance receive, 

To which, from Adam being legal heirs. 

They 've striven and toiled their title to secure. 

She rested ; and her pupil here remarked, 
From this last information I conclude 
That all men have this invitation heard, 
Since none will ultimately be condemned 
But those who have rejected offered grace. 
And headlong, wilfully, in ruin plunged. 

To this our teacher mournfully replied : 
I truly wish that I could answer Yes, — 
That all of human kind had really heard 
The precious tidings of redeeming love. 
But here, alas ! I am constrained to say 
Your inference, while it seems completely fair, 
Is, notwithstanding, wholly incorrect. 
With sorrow I inform you, as I know 
The tidings will with sorrow be received, 
Millions of millions have departed hence, 
And made their exit from the scenes of life. 
Whose ears did never hear the joyful sound 



«>- 



THE HEATHEN NOT SAVED. 173 

Of free salvation, of redeeming grace, 
And future immortality for man. 
Hundreds of millions are existing now, 
Who live in total ignorance of God, 
Adoring idols, being given up 
To strong delusions, to believe a lie, — 
That all who in their evil ways delight 
May in their folly justly be condemned. 

Be silent, child ; — I now anticipate 
Objections which are rising to thy lips. 
Objections which thy mother cannot solve. 
This doctrine I could never comprehend, 
Nor could I e'er its equity perceive ; 
But all the doctors of the Christian church 
(With all their differing articles of faith) 
With unanimity agree in this : — 
They preach and publish, as a sacred truth, 
That all who now as pagans live and die 
Will be condemned, in judgment, to abide 
In that infernal dungeon of despair 
From whence is no deliverance or escape. 
Such is the general testimony given 
By reverend fathers who are good and wise. 
And, being sanctified, are all endued 
With knowledge to explain the sacred truths. 
Our reason, therefore, should submit and bow 
To their superior wisdom, and believe 
That God is just, although his ways appear 



15* 



<#» 



«> 

174 PEREGRINUS. 



Incomprehensible to you and nie, 

And seem to us, in our benighted state, 

In gloomy inconsistencies involved. 

Where Equity divine appears obscure. 
By Doctor Parnell we should be advised, 
" And, where we can't unriddle, learn to trust." 
Or, when full satisfaction is not found 
By scrutiny, there follow Pope's advice : 
" Hope humbly, then ; with trembling pinions soar ! 
Wait your great teacher — Death — and God adore.' 

Well, mother, said the child, I must submit, 
Expecting, till that grisly teacher comes, 
That hideous spectre, which I so abhor : 
For since no remedy appears in view, 
I do suppose that I must wait, indeed. 
For that instructress, horrible and grim, 
To teach the justice of Almighty God. 
But when do you expect to be prepared 
To give me over to this teacher's hands, 
To learn the ways of righteousness and truth ? 

Now as for Madam Death, I do not think 
That I can love that teacher ; she appears 
To me so cold, so stupid, so austere. 
Can I by her tuition, then, advance 
In science, while I shudder at her sight? 
I have no fancy for her silent school, — 
Its mouldering couches, and its hideous forms 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 175 

Of melancholy pupils who receive 
Her speechless lectures with perpetual grins ; 
Its sides with ghastly skeletons are strewed, 
And all its pavements laid with human skulls ; 
Dark horrors and torpidity preside 
In every chapel, and in every hall 
Of her abominable college, filled 
With stagnant vapors, suffocating mists, 
All saturated with effluvia base. 
From putrid carcasses and bones decayed. 
I fear, when she has introduced me once 
Into her drear and horrible abode. 
And I am well initiated there. 
She will retain me in her gloomy cells 
Forever and forever ; and no more. 
Thenceforward, suffer me to view the light, 
Or feel the cheerful influence of the day. 
I seem (in dread anticipation) now 
To feel the pressure of her icy hand ; 
My blood congeals, and chilly shivering creeps 
Through every nerve, and I begin to fear 
That I shall never profit by her love. 
Nor truth nor information gain from her. 

Fear not, my precious child, our teacher cried ; 
Nor shudder, at the gloomy thought of death ; 
She 's not so terrible as you conceive ; 
While sinners dread her coming, to the just 
She comes a messenger of joy and peace. 



176 PEREGRINUS. 



She only rends away these earthy walls, 
Which every motion of the soul restrain 
Within the limits of the house of clay ; 
Solves all her fetters and her iron chains, 
By which her pinions were confined to earth. 
Sets free the imprisoned spirit, bids it soar 
On high to regions of eternal bliss. 
There to behold the righteous ways of God, 
In perfect light, with unbeclouded eyes. 

Such was the meaning of our English bard, 
Who bids us wait the sovereign teacher. Death, 
With pure, confiding patience, and adore 
(Without repining, or distressing doubts) 
Our Heavenly Father, till his summons come 
To call us to his mansions of delight. 

Remember, darling, these consoling words 
Of Watts, our sacred poet and divine. 
Philosopher and great logician too. 
Which he, to comfort feeble Christians, penned : 

" Why should we start and be afraid to die? 

What timorous worms we feeble mortals are ! 
Death is the gate to everlasting joy, 

And yet we dread to make our entrance there. 

" Why should the pains, the groans, the dying strife, 
So frighten our approaching souls away 1 

Or why should we shrink back again to life. 
Fond of our prison and our house of clay 1 

^ . <e> 



* 

THE GENERAL CALL. 177 

" Why should we mourn for our departed friends, 
Or shake and tremble so at death's alarms? 

'T is but the messenger that Jesus sends 
To bear the pilgrims to the Saviour's arms." 

But now, from this digression to return : — 
I told you that your father and myself, 
Upon the subject of the general call, 
In heart receive the statement which is given 
By Christian teachers of the Arminian class, 
Although the Calvinist divines are said 
To be more wise and orthodox than they. 
Whereas we never could perceive at all 
The justice of the theologic scheme, 
Framed by the Calvinists, we do reject, 
In part, their system, since it ill comports 
With reason or with Scripture to believe 
That God is partial ; that he is unjust, 
According to the most appropriate sense, 
And common meaning, as we all apply 
The name of justice, in the affairs of men ; 
We deem it quite irrational to seek 
Inhuman definitions of the word. 
In order to maintain that God is just. 
It is a stigma, horrible and base. 
Cast on Jehovah's character, to say 
That he from all eternity condemned 
A portion of his progeny on earth 
To everlasting miseries in hell, 



178 PEREGRINUS. 



-♦ 



And by an irreversible decree 

Consigned them o'er to wretchedness and sin. 

No ; God is merciful ; his love extends 
To all his offspring, — he is just and kind 
To all created by his righteous hands. 

But having, to console your troubled mind, 
Shown how we conscientiously dissent 
From all our ancient Calvinistic guides, 
(Believing that the justice of the Lord 
Is universal, and impartial too, 
In all her dealings with the sons of men,) 
With pleasure now we hasten to resume 
Our interrupted narrative : we hope 
In heaven's eternal council soon to give 
Such proofs of goodness, infinite, divine, 
As with its own immensity to fill 
With ecstacies unknown, and overwhelm 
Your soul with admiration and delight, 
Till every faculty is overpowered. 
And lost in wonder, gratitude and love. 

The scheme conditional was now arranged 
For man's redemption, if the sacrifice 
Proposed by Wisdom (and in heaven approved, 
Aloud, in presence of assembled powers. 
By venerable Justice, when she rose. 
Without solicitation, to arrange 
With Sovereign Mercy articles of peace) 

<%• ^ -^ <^ 



THE ATONING RANSOM. 179 

Could in reality be found to pay, 

At once, the dreadful penalty deserved 

By sinners ; which, inflicted on themselves, 

Would make eternity with groans resound. 

Could any spirit of the heavenly hosts 
Of angels or of seraphim, who stand 
Before the eternal throne, and lowly bow 
In love and adoration pure, suffice 
For this atonement 1 — Could his death appease 
Incensed Justice 1 Would her wrath be staid 
By all those archangelic powers of heaven, 
Or all their armies, should they offer up, 
With free and voluntary hearts, themselves 
To her avenging stroke, and should they bleed 
Upon her altar, in the sinner's stead, 
To quench her flaming wrath ? Ah ! surely no ; 
All these were nothing to her vast demands. 
Had all created beings then expired. 
To pay the debt, still her remaining charge 
Were infinitely great. Did she not swear 
That no atoning ransom, not divine, 
Would as a commutation be received? 
And, save the blood of Deity alone, 
No liquid quench her all-consuming ire? 
Her vengeance must forever be endured 
By fallen, sinful man, except a God 
Should his own high divinity debase, 
(On earth appearing in the rebel's place,) 



^,. __ :g, 

ISO PEREGRINUS. 

And freely bear the ag-onies of death, 

Made infinitely dreadful by the weight 

Of heaven's Almighty Sire's avenging wrath, 

Which, superadded to his mortal pangs. 

Should crush his mighty heart, already pierced 

With fiery, barbed, and envenomed darts. 

Shot from the malice of infernal powers, 

Freed from their iron chains to exercise 

Their genius in tormenting ; — joined with these, 

Incarnate fiends, ungrateful sons of earth. 

Shall torture him with mockery and scorn. 

Suspended, in disgrace, in public view. 

Uncovered, stretched upon a wooden cross. 

To which he cruelly had been affixed 

By their malignant hands. — A union new : — 

Heaven, earth, and hell together coalesce. 

As one, combining to afflict the man 

That holds within him a quiescent God ; 

(A God with his humanity combined 

As intimately as the soul and flesh 

In human nature.) A Divinity, 

Omnipotent in suffer ing, but whose skill 

In doing and in teaching all depends 

On other persons of the Sacred Three. 

Then was the inquiry made, with trumpet sound 
(While from the basis of the Eternal Throne 
Creation trembled at the unusual notes. 
And shook and quivered to her furthest verge) : — 



«> 



Gabriel's proclamation. ISl 

This all-important question who will solve 1 

For man's redemption who will find the means'? 

What gracious Deity will condescend 

Of glory infinite to be unrobed ; — 

To lay Almighty dignity aside ; 

To be invested with the humble garb 

Of human flesh ; to be himself a man ; 

To suifer punishment, to bleed and die, — 

To make atonement for a guilty race. 

Redeem and rescue this rebellious world, 

(Now sinking deep beneath Jehovah's curse,) 

From vengeance, wrath, and everlasting death ? 

What Deity is so imbued with love, 

As from his living arteries to pour 

The life-sustaining fluid of his heart, 

To quench the Almighty Father's burning ire? 

What high Divinity will undertake 
The dreadful battle with the wily snake, 
Whose windings in their serpent-folds include. 
From age to age, the whole of Adam's brood ; — 
Assault the monster, with his naked heel 
Exposed, the venom of his rage to feel ; — 
Still persevering till his head is crushed 
Beneath his feet, and trampled in the dust ? 

By theologic poets 't is afl&rmed, 
And so reported in the lofty strains 
Of Milton, — Albion's high, immortal bard, — 



16 



1S2 PEREGRINUS. 



When these interrogations were proclaimed 
By Gabriel, chief herald of the skies, 
Through all the regions of primeval worlds, 
Heaven's choristers were hushed, and silence reigned 
Through all the empire ; while archangels stood 
As statues on their pedestals unmoved. 
To wait the sequel of these strange events ; 
No potentate presuming to indulge, 
Even in the sacred chambers of the mind, 
Anticipations of the great result. 

The vast imperial regions heard no voice 
Of God or angel, and the immortal realm 
Was gilded by no smile ; but deep suspense 
Spread her black pinions o'er the worlds of light, 
And shrouded all in darkness. 

Nothing more 
Could, in the council of the Almighty God, 
Be now transacted, till a volunteer. 
As man's Redeemer, Infinite, Divine, 
Almighty and Eternal, should appear. 
To rescue sinners from the dark abyss 
Whereinto they had fallen ; to appease. 
By offering up himself, the unmeasured wrath 
Of heaven's offended Sovereign — flaming then 
Most terribly, and destined still to burn 
Through all eternity without control, 
If not extinguished with a holy flood, 
With life's elixir, issuing from the breast 



— — — — ♦ 

EFFECT OF THE PROCLAMATION. 183 

(Divinely pure, without a sinful stain) 

Of God, in all the bitterness of woe — 

Of God, invested with a human form, 

That he may be accounted real man, 

And being leg-ally accounted such. 

May, as the very sinner, be condenmed, 

And though innocent himself, may justly bear, 

In his own person, on the accursed tree. 

The sentence of Jehovah's broken law. 

Deep horror through immensity prevailed, — 
Such dismal gloom as never once again 
Will blacken heaven, before that awful pause, 
Still in futurity, which must precede 
The day of general doom, when, high above, 
This council once again will be convened, 
To constitute and organize the court — 
That high tribunal over all supreme — 
From whose decision there is no appeal. 
And at whose bar all other powers arraigned 
Will lay their pride and glory in the dust ; 
Where all creation will at once be tried. 
In righteousness, according to their works. 

Such universal silence never more — 
Such general terrors — shall again prevail 
Till this same council, being then convoked, 
Shall send the great Messiah down to earth, 
Commissioned with authority complete 



*- 



^ ■ <^ 

184 PEREGRINUS. 

To shake the dreary regions of the dead ; 

To call the sleeping nations into life ; 

As final Judge, to try the universe ; 

(All creatures summoned to his a-wful bar ;) 

To doom the unbelievers down to hell, 

And take the righteous with himself to heaven ; — 

All those to be tormented day and night, 

Through sempiternity, which never ends ; 

But these in everlasting peace to dwell, 

Within the mansions of his Father's house, 

And in the raptures of unceasing joy 

To hymn his praises with perpetual songs. 

Now, while the council in the upper worlds 
Sat waiting thus, in horrible suspense, 
The Almighty Father on the eternal throne 
Sat awfully sublime, and blackened heaven 
With his avenging frown, — the Holy Ghost 
(Of milder nature, more inclined to love) 
Sat hovering like a dove amidst the gloom. 
Diffusing solemn light through dismal clouds, 
Coagulated from the effluvia dark. 
Still rising from the perspiration rank 
Of fierce avenging Justice, whose dire rage 
Burned awfully within her, like the fires 
Pent up within Mount Etna's horrid caves. 
Which struggle fearfully, and, rumbling, shake 
Far round the regions of the earth and seas, — 
A sign of fierce eruptions, when the mount. 



HIS mother's wishes. 185 

From entrails like the burning womb of hell, 
Pours out enormous globes of melting rocks, 
And floods of lava, o'er adjacent fields, 
In desolating torrents ; while, far ofi". 
The nations tremble at the thundering sound. 

The bosom of vindictive Justice heaved 
In such commotion, with her scorching ire. 
And swelled and panted for occasion fit 
To take due vengeance on rebellious man. 
Or on his substitute, divine and pure, — 
A precious, all-atoning Lamb, prepared 
To be a victim in the rebel's stead. 

But, I must leave you ; duty bids me go, 

And now to family concerns attend. 
May you to full religious knowledge grow, 

Then with a master's skill the truth defend. 

may you fight the battles of the Lord, 
A valiant soldier in his sacred cause ; 

1 hope to see you wield the spirit's sword, 
In honor of the great Jehovah's laws. 

I hope that you will mightily convince 
All who reject the doctrines of the truth ; 

And thousands lead to Salem's blessed Prince, 
And teach them virtue in the days of youth. 



le-* 



186 PEREGRINUS. 



I hope to see you many thousands win 
To true religion, and to see them leave 

The noxious ways of vanity and sin, 

Thenceforward, and to heavenly wisdom cleave. 

To see them flock with eagerness around, 

While from your lips salvation's tidings flow ; 

With pleasure listen to the joyful sound. 
And learn to overcome their mortal foe. 

To see them learn to run the gospel race, 

First laying all impediments aside ; 
Believing firmly in redeeming grace. 

And following daily our unfailing guide. 

The path of righteousness is safe and sure, 
None who sincerely love it miss the way ; 

Who enter once and to the end endure 
Will be admitted to eternal day. 

The consummation of redemption's plan 
Shall be our topic, when we next converse ; 

We '11 tell you who appeared to rescue man . 
From ruin, and his triumphs we '11 rehearse. 

You in delightful ecstacies shall hear 

Of him, who laid divinity aside. 
Assumed humanity, a volunteer. 

And freely in the place of sinners died. 



END OF Satan's keign. 187 

Then from the yearning tomb triumphant rose ; 

For, dying, he had ruined death and hell. 
Had mortal wounds inflicted on our foes, 

Achieving glorious conquests when he fell. 

Before ascending to paternal day, 

He bound the serpent to his chariot wheel, 

With many a glorious trophy, to display 
The mortal wound inflicted with his heel. 

To show the dragon's crushed, enormous head, 
And glaring eyeballs from their sockets pressed, 

Still tinctured with his old flame-colored red. 
Which erst the venom of his soul expressed ; 

While his tremendous, life-tenacious tail, 
In thrice ten thousand convolutions wound. 

With dire convulsions make the nations wail. 
Encircling still the universe around ; 

But Death, at length, advancing by degrees, 
Will force the monster to relax the hold, 

For dissolution will his vitals seize, 
And its circumvolutions quite unfold. 

The crushing of the serpent's head implies 
The fiill destruction of old Satan's reign, 

That man, uplifted from the fall, may rise 
To second life, delivered from his chain. 



188 PEREGRINUS. 



That he (so Milton sings) again may stand 
On even ground against his mortal foe ; 

That he, with reinvigorated hand, 
Satanic legions thus may overthrow ; 

Armed with that name whose all-puissant charms 
Fling terrors on the potentates of hell. 

To ruin, by their artifice and arms, 
Endeavoring to allure him, or compel. 



BOOK FIFTH. 

Our young inquirer after sacred truth, 
Again to his own sad reflections left, 
Unsatisfied, and with a broken heart, 
Just like a statue, motionless, a while 
I Stood where his mother left him, overwhelmed 
j With dreadful consternation. Dismal gloom, 
i Despair and misery, seemed the wretched lot 
i Of mortals here, without one cheering ray 
i Of consolation to relieve the scene, — 

To give refreshment to the darkened sight, — 

To guide the footsteps, or revive the soul, . 

Expiring under suffocating weights 

Of noxious vapors and unwholesome air, 

With sulphur and with nitrogen surcharged, 

Arising from the black, Tartarean caves 

Of Satan's empire, or from upper worlds 

Emitted, in death-saturated clouds. 

With vengeance, by the Tyrant of the skies. 

Thus he, a while, exanimated, stood 
In dull torpidity, then sought relief 



<%> 



<^ 

190 PEREGRINUS. 

For swelling vitals and obstructed breath 
By rushing out into the open air, 
Where, if his mind from wretchedness were free, 
He most delightfully had been regaled 
With rich effluvia from unnumbered flowers 
Which grew spontaneously, and from the fields 
Arrayed in beauty, all whose surface blushed 
With strawberries planted by wild Nature's hand. 

O ! had he been acquainted with the truth, 
And known the kind benevolence of Heaven, 
How had his young imagination here 
In pleasure rioted with numerous joys, 
The blessings tendered by his Maker's love ! 
But Superstition, with her ghastly frown 
And chilling aspect, sickened all his powers, — 
Destroyed his appetite for present good. 
By nature kindly offered him, unsought ; 
While deeply quaffing sorrow's poisoned cup, 
And while his spirits in abhorrence rose. 
And detestation, of the attributes 
Ascribed to Deity ; lamenting yet, 
And mourning with unutterable grief. 
The inutility of all his search. 
So long pursued, to find the God unknown, 
Portrayed in his imagination still ; — 
A God, whose nature to himself expressing. 
He called " Unbounded Goodness :" such a God 
As he in fancy's mirror, though obscured 
By vile tradition's vapors, seemed to view ; 

4 4* 



«»— # 

HIS ANGUISH OF SPIRIT. 191 

With whom, at times, his spirit seemed to hold 
Communion, and address Mm by the name, 
Almighty, Infinite, Eternal Love ! 

Through grief's exuberance, he unheeded passed 
Delightful roses blushing by the way, 
By Love's own fingers painted and perfumed, 
And no invigoration found access. 
By any means, to his enfeebled nerves. 
Save from the freshness of the summer breeze. 
Which fanned his temples as he hastened on. 
No consolation could his mind receive 
From rural luxuries and rural charms, 
By nature proffered with a liberal heart. 
To his retirement hastening through the fields, 
His shoes were reddened with nectareous juice 
From clustered strawberries pressed by random steps ; 
Through mental anguish, all untasted left. 

When at his leafy temple now arrived. 
With beeches, oaks and maples, pillared high, 
And carpeted with mingled grass and flowers, 
(A tabernacle which our infant chose. 
While yet in stature but a very babe, 
For meditation and for secret prayer,) 
He glanced his eyes around, to be assured 
That no one human being, lurking near, 
Was noting him ; — then flung himself adown 
Upon earth's humble bosom. There he lay, 

^ _ — __ 4> 



^ . ^ 

19i^ PEREGRINUS. 

O'ercome with mental anguish, which suppressed 
All utterance, and, low prostrate on the turf, 
Breathed (in his pangs) unspeakable desires, 
Till gushing torrents from his optic founts 
Rushed downward to relieve his swelling heart. 
These kindly some alleviation gave, 
And drowned his anguish with a flood of tears. 

At length, these briny sluices being closed, 
Our infant mourner, on his bended knees, 
Poured forth these supplications, and addressed 
This invocation to Creation's King : — 
Almighty Father ! my distracted mind, 
Disturbed by doctrines horrible and strange, 
Concerning Justice and concerning Thee, 
Has been deprived of happiness and peace. 
Left destitute of quiet and repose ; — 
In turmoil and in strange commotion left. 
Through many an anxious night and gloomy day, 
In agitation like the troubled seas, 
Instead of happiness, has met despair. 
And has no place for consolation found. 
But now, alas ! my thoughts have settled down 
Within a melancholy vale of woe. 
Where light and joy revisit not my soul, 
And even life itself is half extinct. 
Alas ! what pleasing expectations once 
Engaged my fancy ! — hopes of future bliss. 
Forever withered now — forever lost I 



HIS APPEAL TO DEITY. 193 

I thought to rise, on scientific wings, 

High as aspiring genius ever soared. 

Or plunge as deep in philosophic mines, 

Forever searching through all nature's works. 

To learn the wisdom of the Omnific hand 

Which formed the planets and which built the spheres. 

But now in sorrow must I spend my days, 

And breathe out lamentations, while no hope 

Before me rises, to assuage my grief 1 

Must sad reflections wound my tortured breast, 

Through all the dark remainder of my life. 

While griefs compose the story of my voyage, 

And disappointed hopes my daily song I 

Now, I can never love. Almighty Sire, 
The dreadful character which every day 
I 've heard ascribed to thee. This being so. 
How can I further wish to know the ways 
Of one whose character I do not love. 
Whose attributes I never can admire 1 

Be not offended, Eternal God ! 
If I cannot address thee as I ought ; 
For I am such a very little child. 
That other children of an age like mine 
Think not of praying — never worship thee 
E'en on the Sabbath ; be not angry, then, 
If my petition should ascend to heaven 
And be presented in improper form ; 
Nor let the affirmation give offence, 



17 



194 PEREGRINUS. 



Which truly from an aching heart I spoke, 

When I did with an honest spirit say, 

I cannot love the dreadful character 

Ascribed to thee. Thou knowest everything 

That is, or has been, or v^^ill ever be. 

I am, moreover, by the wise informed 

That all our secret thoughts are known to thee 

Before they are acknowledged by ourselves. 

If thus, indeed, my secret thoughts are known, 

Assuredly thou understandest well 

That I have never fully yet believed 

Thee, Lord, so dreadful in avenging wrath, — 

So cruel, so unrighteous, so morose, — 

As every one declares. At certain times, 

I 've wholly disbelieved it, — always hoped, 

(Though hope, at seasons, nearly has expired ;) 

And still some expectations I retain. 

That I shall find thee quite a different God 

From what they represent thee. When I say 

I cannot love the picture laid before me 

As God's own portrait, I do not intend, 

By any means, to have it understood, 

O Father ! that I do not love thyself; 

Since many a hundred thousand times I 've thought, 

And often said, Sure this terrific draught 

Is no true likeness of the Eternal King ; 

And, possibly, it no resemblance bears 

To its alleged original, unseen 

By mortal eyes, and never felt by man. 



#- 



A 

HIS APPEAL TO DEITY. 195 



Almighty Father ! I do now request, 
And humbly I beseech thee, to make known, — 
By some unfailing signals to reveal, — 
A God of kindness — of Almighty Love. 

From holy ministers, I 've often heard 
That thy good pleasure is to be adored 
And loved by all the offspring of thy power ; 
And, on my part, 'tis also my desire 
With this, thy own good pleasure, to comply. 
But honesty compels me to confess 
My love, my adoration, or esteem, 
By other means can never be obtained 
Than by thy proving to my dubious heart 
Thyself in every feature all unlike 
The horrid pictures offered to my sight. 
As I desire to love thee, I beseech thee, 
Most fervently and earnestly, to give 
At once this demonstration to the mind 
Of one who seeks to magnify thy grace. 
Say to my troubled spirit, " Love Divine, 
Boundless, Eternal, Uncreated Love, 
Is my essential nature." Let me see. 
In all thy dealings with the human race, 
A confirmation of this sacred truth : 
Then will I love thee, with enraptured soul ; 
My life shall then be occupied with leading 
Thine alienated children back to thee. 
By showing men the character of God 
In all its beauty and inherent charms. 



■* 



196 PEREGRINUS. 

If my Creator is divinely good, 
I wish to know and comprehend it well, 
That I may daily in his love rejoice. 
Hence I beseech him to reveal to me 
That he, at length, by Love's consuming power, 
Will make an end of evil and of sin, — 
Will banish all afflictions from this earth, 
And cause that Equity and Love divine. 
From heaven descending, reign triumphant here. 

For Love, for Beauty, and Immortal Grace, 
Which oft my rapt imagination paints 
In glowing colors and celestial forms, 
I daily sigh. I have internal eyes, 
(The spirit's eyes, I fancy,) which behold. 
At times, immortal beauties. Day and night, 
Refined, eternal, never-fading charms 
Have stood before me ; — I have seen and felt them. 
Yes, I have felt them, pure, ethereal, fine ; 
In their life-giving atmosphere I 've stood, 
Rapt into ecstacy of heavenly joys, 
Inhaling ether, spiritual, divine. 
Into my soul, which seemingly has changed 
A while my nature. I could traverse, then, 
As wafted by the spirit's gale I rode, 
The incomprehensible, eternal deep 
Of thine immensity, which I surveyed — 
Myself a spirit : but this ocean vast 
Of God's infinity seemed all composed 
Of Wisdom, Righteousness, and Perfect Love, 

<^ 



HIS APPEAL TO DEITY. 197 

While Perfect Love united all in one, 
And o'er the universe triumphant reigned ; 
Such love as, like an all-consuming fire, 
Will, in due season, purify the world 
From all corruption, and from every stain. 

Now I beseech thee, Father, let me know 
What is thy nature, " in and of thyself." 

say what, in reality, thou art ! 
If such a being thou canst be, indeed. 
As painted in the theologic schemes 
Of ministers, who, coming in thy name, 
Stand up in sacred pulpits, raised aloft 
Above the people listening to their words, 

1 wish to understand it, and to die. 
They represent thee as the fatal cause. 
The principle of ill ; and they declare 
These evils, which spontaneously have flowed 
From thy own nature, never have an end : — 
Thus they describe thee, but pronounce thee good. 

Now, if their strange descriptions be correct — 
Thy real pictures — or if any one 
Of these delineations is, indeed, 
A righteous draught, and well resembles thee — 
Then art thou. Father, an Immortal Curse — 
A source of wretchedness, a fount of wrongs. 
Unfailing, ever-boiling, sending forth. 
Through all eternity, pestiferous streams 
Of dire pollution, miseries, and woes. 



17' 



198 



PEREGRINUS. 



I cannot credit these absurd reports, 
But anxiously desire to be informed 
What kind of being thou, in very truth, 
Hast been, through all the eternities elapsed ; — 
What now thou art. (We, in thy holy book, 
Have information that thou changest not.) 
What is the nature which thou hast retained, 
Forever ? — that which still thou wilt retain, 
Through all the perpetuity which lies 
Beyond our reason, and beyond our thoughts? 

Thou didst to holy prophets often speak. 
In ancient seasons, to reveal thy will ; 
They listened to the music of thy voice, 
Rapt in mysterious visions, trances, dreams ; 
They viewed celestial glories, and adored. 
As others have done, may not I become, 
O Sire of men ! a holy prophet too ? 
Why will my Father not vouchsafe to speak 
With me as often as he talked with them ? 
Wilt thou not once, at least, thyself reveal 
To me, O God, in unbeclouded love ? 

Now since in earliest life I first acquired 
Articulation, I have often heard 
Of little Samuel, a child like me. 
And was he not, O thou Eternal One ! 
Three times, one night, by his own proper name, 
Addressed by thee, before he knew thy voice ? 



#- 



HIS APPEAL TO DEITY. 199 

Didst thou not often, too, with him converse, 
From that time forward to his latest age ? 
But, seeing he revealed so small a share 
Of these instructions for the public use, 
Have we not cause sufficient to presume 
That thy best sayings on important themes 
He kept as secrets, pondering all thy words 
Within himself, reserved for private use, - 
Esteeming them too good to be divulged 
To common people, favored less than he ? 
Why else so trivial what he did proclaim 1 
So unimportant to the world at large 1 
So far beneath the dignity of God 1 
Did he not give the people all the chaff; 
But for himself reserve the precious wheat ? 

Oft, in imagination, I 've conceived 
That I, like little Samuel, have heard 
My name pronounced by superhuman voice ; 
And hence my hopes and expectations oft 
Have been excited, that the Almighty Sire 
Had summoned me to be his prophet too, — 
That I should sweet communications hold, 
In conversations holy and sublime. 
With God, and learn to comprehend his ways. 
And why may not these expectations, Lord, 
Be realized 1 If thou art Love itself, — 
Essential, everlasting, lofty, pure, — 
An ocean of benevolence, whose waves. 



* 

200 PEREGRINUS. 



Forever rolling-, waft immortal barks, 

With blessings freighted for the human race, 

(Anticipations slight of good reserved. 

For mortals, in the vast essential deep 

Beyond conception of created minds,) — 

If, Lord, thy character be truly such 

As in imagination I conceive, 

(And I would utter, but description fails, 

For want of language to express my thoughts,) — 

And I were called to execute thy will, 

Throughout some portion of thy universe. 

Through nations far away, or regions near, — 

I 'd be as faithful in thy holy work 

As little Samuel was ; — and, more than this, 

I 'd never keep thy goodness to myself, 

Like Samuel, and banquet all alone 

On heavenly wine ; but loudly I 'd proclaim. 

With ardent zeal, with energy and power, 

Thy love and goodness to the sons of men. 

If this be thy true character, indeed, 
I wish to know and comprehend it well ; 
That I with admiration may adore, 
And love, and worship thee with glowing heart, 
With all my spirit, and with all my soul. 

But if thy character is well portrayed 
By ministers, abounding in professions 
Of their high calling to proclaim the gospel, 
Then I most earnestly beseech thee now 



-♦ 



HIS APPEAL TO DEITY. 201 

Send forth thy lightning: from thy dreadful throne, 
And strike me into nothing : do not leave 
The least memorial that I once have been — 
One single particle of flesh and blood, 
Or spirit, in existence. Thus I pray. 
Thou hearest my petition. If too long 
I have intruded with my supplications 
Upon thy patience, think of my afflictions, 
And pardon my presumption. I have done. 

Now all our holy speakers, when they pray, — 
Exhorters, deacons, ministers of God, 
And all religious people, — say, " Amen," 
In termination of their formal prayers : 
I do not know the import of the word, 
(If any meaning to the sound belong,) 
Its definition I have never asked. 
Still, lest the omission of the general form 
My humble supplications should exclude 
From thy attention, I will here repeat 
The solemn and mysterious word, — Amen. 

The prayer was ended : then the infant sat, 
All motionless, expecting some reply 
To his petitions soon would be received. 
To cheer his spirit, and relieve his heart 
From its distressing load of grief and fear. 
Long did he wait a message from above, 
While his imagination seemed to hear 



-^ 



202 PEREGRINUS. 



Celestial spirits chanting, as they flew 

Above the clouds, unearthly notes 

To their Creator's praise ; which he supposed 

Jehovah's angels coming to announce 

Glad tidings of salvation, and reveal 

To his intelligence a glorious power. 

In all things differing from the awful God 

Described by clergymen of all the sects 

Whose declamations he had ever heard. 

In anxious hope, and quivering with suspense, 

He waited ; while, emitted from afar. 

The lightning gleamed, with no succeeding voice. 

To rock the mountains with its thundering sound. 

He lingered there till cloud succeeding cloud, 

With convolutions horrible and black, 

Spread their huge volumes o'er the face of day, 

And veiled the land in darkness ; dismal gloom 

A while enveloped all things, till the blaze 

Emitted from the sable mass, surcharged 

With water and electric fluid, seemed 

To fill the atmosphere with living flame. 

In quick succession flash succeeding flash 

Arrayed the mountains with a shining robe 

Of dazzling splendor, while the angry clouds 

With harsh, hoarse, grumbling roarings shook the 

ground. 
And made the mountains reel ; one giant oak 
(Which stood majestic in the open field. 
High towering to the sky, — a neighboring tree 



: ^ 

HE IS STRICKEN BY LIGHTNINCi. 20o 

To those that formed our infant's chosen bower, — 

Beneath whose branches he had often stood, 

Or sat in meditation o'er the roots) 

Was marked a special object of their rage, 

And from its spreading- capital on high 

Was rent and shivered to the very base. ^ 

The child was hastening to a neighboring barn, 
To seek a shelter from the pelting rain, 
(While rocks and rumbling mountains rudely danced, 
With terrors, to the music of the clouds. 
Exploding, grumbling, harsh and broken bass,) 
And, running swiftly, to himself he said, — 
This day shall I experience joys sublime, 
Amidst the glories of the driving storm ; 
For now, ascending to the highest loft, 
I '11 hear, alone, this noble tempest roar — 
Rapt in sublimity, I '11 view the scene. 
And its amazing grandeur I '11 enjoy ; 
High raised on fancy's pinions, I will hear 
The bellowing thunders, and the howling winds. 
And view the shining atmosphere, which seems 
A splendid ocean of continuous flames. 
He spoke, and lo ! that unexpected shock 
Which rent the neighboring oak his senses stunned. 
With its explosion paralyzed his nerves. 
And stretched him on the surface of the ground, 
Deprived of motion — to appearance dead. 
Thence was he lifted by paternal hands. 



* 

I 204 PEREGRINUS. 



And, in the bosom of his father, borne 
With sorrow to his anxious mother's arms. 

When to his lost intelligence restored, 
He found himself extended on a bed, 
With both his parents standing by his side, 
With candles blazing ; (for expiring day 
Had left his empire to night's gloomy sway ; 
Which soon had followed that fictitious night 
When vapors had excluded Phoebus' light, 
While glaring lightning occupied the place 
Of rays emitted from his lovely face.) 

And now, when sleep had closed our infant's eyes, 
The night presented him with visions strange 
Of nature's closing scenes and general doom: — 
The day at length arriving, long foretold 
By preachers, with amazing horrors fraught : — 
The Judge descending on his burning throne ; — 
Loud thunders bellowing in the frighted sky, 
Attended with the trumpet's fearful sound ; — 
This earth enveloped with devouring flames. 
Whose spires above the clouds ascended high. 
With dire convulsions trembling, being cleft 
In furrows vast, unfathomably deep. 
And forming many a crater deep and large, 
Which, like Vesuvius and -ZEtna's mouths. 
Pour forth their burning vomit o'er the land, 
And fling earth's melted entrails to the skies ; — 



* 



MORE MEDITATIONS. 205 

The trumpet's final, penetrating sound, 
Reverberating through the realm of death, 
Bids all his subjects, in the land or sea, 
Quit his dominions and returned to life ; — 
His dreary dungeons opening to the light. 
And equally the prisoners of a day. 
And of a thousand, or five thousand years, 
Receive immediately a full discharge. 
But here we pause ; nor shall we further sketch, 
While hastening onward to our destined goal, 
The progress of this wild, nocturnal scene ; 
Since, though half orthodox, 'twould not agree 
With Orthodoxy iii her present form. 

When heaven again was lighted by the rays 
Of Phcebus, now emitted from the east. 
Once more, disconsolate, our infant sought 
(With deep reflections and corroding cares) 
His favorite bower, a tabernacle wild. 
Which Nature gave him as a sacred house, 
For meditation and for prayer designed. 
There, being seated, he in private mused 
Concerning yesterday ; with anxious thoughts, 
Recalled its sorrows and reviewed its scenes. 

Now, after thorough scrutiny pursued, 
Of all the secret workings of his soul, 
And strict examination of his heart. 
Thus, in communion with himself, he spoke : 



18 



4 

206 PEREGRINUS. 

Why did that fierce, unusual tempest rise, 

Just after my petition entered heaven 1 

Why was I by its violence pursued, 

And made a victim of its dreadful rage 1 

Did heaven's Almighty Sovereign disapprove 

(And w^as the storm intended to chastise) 

My ardent aspirations to attain 

The science of his justice, love and truth? 

Can God esteem it sinful to desire 

And seek a knowledge of his righteous ways 1 

Does not the Bible, which is daily read, 

Command us, every one, to know the Lord? 

And is not this precisely what I seek^ 

To ascertain him merciful and just? 

Which is to know him totally unlike 

The strange descriptions which I daily hear. 

But how shall \ be able to obtain 

This knowledge of Jehovah, so required ? 

I have been always entertaining hopes 

That our maternal teacher, in reserve, 

Had something yet to make my soul rejoice 

In God's eternal purposes ; and kept 

(As in a Galilean wedding old) 

The richest wine to terminate the feast. 

I 've hoped that in due order I should hear 

That Satan's children — Enmity and Wrath — 

With all iniquity, would be consumed ; — 

That Truth and Righteousness, with Love and Peace, 

At length would triumph and forever reign ; 



^ 



* — 

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT. 207 



That then Jehovah's kingdom would be proved 
More clear than crystal and more white than snow. 
But ah ! with hope suspended, I am sick 
In heart, exhausted, heavy-laden, faint. 

The Holy Bible every day affirms. 
When to our listening- family 't is read. 
That God is perfect, righteous, good, and wise ; 
And that his tender mercies do extend 
To every creature which his hands have made ; 
And that he does not willingly afflict 
Nor grieve the tender progeny of men. 
Yet, preachers and religious people say, — 
When man by his Creator first was made 
Of earthy particles, a puny thing, 
(Who, by inflating him with vital air, 
Had made within him an immortal soul,) 
He, in communion with his lovely wife, 
Was made sole tenant of a paradise 
Abounding with variety of fruit. 
With free indulgence to partake of all, 
Save one reserved and interdicted tree. 
Which latter they must neither touch nor taste, 
On penalty of everlasting death, 
Continued through a life which never ends ; — 
A life of most excruciating pangs. 
By miracle supported, to endure 
Their misery, beyond conception great. 
How was this dreadful penalty expressed? 

4> 4 1 



208 PEREGRINUS. 



They say 'twas all included in the words, 

" The day you eat of this forbidden fruit, 

You certainly shall die ;" — a meaning this 

Which 1 could never in the words perceive : 

But these are holy men, and they are wise ; 

And they with strongest confidence afiirm 

This was the very meaning of the phrase. 

They say this tree was beautiful to view, 

Its apples most alluring to their eyes. 

And calculated to excite desire 

To gather its productions, and to eat. 

Concerning God, these ministers affirm, 

That (lest our parents should escape the snare. 

Abstaining always from the alluring bait) 

A crafty tempter was provided next. 

By whom they certainly would be seduced 

To eat those apples which were so reserved. 

So artful, so replete with subtle skill. 

That his malign devices never failed ; 

Hence was it certain that he would succeed, 

And they be ruined by infernal guile. 

They call this tempter, Satan ; (and, besides, 

Cognomens various are on him bestowed. 

Uncouth, unsuitable to be pronounced 

By lips refined ; the delicately pure, 

To him referring, seldom speak his names ;) 

They tell us Satan was, in early times, 

A chief of angels in the court of heaven ; 

And being seated on a lofty throne. 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL. 209 

He, flaming with ambition, malice, pride, 
Once levied war against the Eternal King, 
Millions of millions having been seduced, 
By wily artifices, to unite 
In rank sedition, to disturb the peace 
And harmony long prevalent above. 
In those pure regions of eternal bliss. 
These good and holy ministers declare. 
Soon after man's progenitor was formed, 
The same that in eternity seduced 
One third of all the spirits of the sky. 
Was from his black, infernal dungeon freed. 
To ply his guileful and malignant arts 
On feeble, inexperienced, simple man. 
They tell us Adam, being thus ensnared, 
By one transaction ruined all mankind, 
Through rolling ages to the end of time. 
They tell us charming infants all are born 
By nature sinful, — totally depraved ; 
All lumps of putrefaction and of filth. 
Completely destitute of will and power 
For righteous actions and for pious thoughts. 
Till renov9.ted by Jehovah's hand, — 
Remodelled wholly, and created new. 
They say that all delightful, smiling babes 
Are under their Creator's dreadful curse, 
When earliest respiring vital air. 
And destined each, on dying, to become 
A living brand of hell's eternal fire. 



18* 



-* 



210 PEREGRINUS. 

Except a miracle its nature change, 
And snatch it from destruction's slippery road, 
In which from earliest being every one, 
With rapid and perpetual motion, glides 
Down, down to doleful regions of despair. 

They say, moreover, this infernal chief 
Has not possession of this earth alone. 
For countless multitudes of crafty sprites 
Attend their chieftain, and obey his call : 
That all of these are equally intent 
On man's destruction, plying every art, 
To lead him and beguile him into hell ; 
Whose bands, surpassing number, swarming round — 
All, through invisibility, unknown — 
Are secretly injecting evil thoughts, 
And thus corrupting unsuspicious men, 
All by the Almighty's sufferance, at least — 
Hence, in accordance with his own designs, — 
If even religion of the mildest form. 
The system of Arminians, be the truth, 
And errs not in its character of God. 

Are these infernals instruments of heaven, 
By which the monarch of the upper worlds 
Allures poor mortals to eternal death 1 
And must they, being thus beguiled, endure 
The cruel tortures of envenomed wrath, 
Through that duration which will never end ■? 



<^- 



CHARACTER OF GOD. 211 

Thus in his little heart this infant spoke, 
In close communion with himself alone : — 
Since what I mentally have now reviewed 
Is but a faint, obscure, and feeble draught 
Of that vile image which the preachers show 
Before the public whensoe'er they preach, 
And call it God ; pretending to have shown 
A real likeness of the King of kings ; — 
And since this picture does not comprehend 
The most offensive and repulsive traits 
Of their delineations of his ways, 
Would he, the great Eternal, take offence 
Because I made inquiry of himself. 
Concerning his true character ; — to know 
The certainty if he were such, or not. 
As they have represented him to me ? 
Did I not tell him I could ne'er believe 
That his true character, at any time. 
Was in their rude, misshapen pictures seen ? 
I told him that my very soul abhorred 
The vile and odious daubings which they swore 
Were righteous pictures of creation's Sire, 
Alike the source of being and of life ; 
That they appeared detestable to me, 
As calumnies and libels most profane. 
Against my Father, Sovereign, Maker, — God; 
That I, in fact, considered him defamed. 
Blasphemed and slandered, in their horrid schemes. 
Such were my sentiments, and such my views, 



^ ^ 

212 PEREGRINUS. 

Concerning doctrines which I 've heard proclaimed 

By clergymen, whose sanctity appeared 

In tones and gestures, countenance and airs : 

Hence I requested him to interpose, 

And in defence of his eternal name, 

Refresh my spirit with celestial truth, 

And give me demonstrations of his love. 

Could this offend him ? But I did affirm, 

That if his real likeness I had seen, 

In these detested theologic plans, 

I never could admire it, nor adore. 

In heart, the person represented there. 

If in my breast suspicions were indulged 

That hence with me the Omnipotent was wroth, 

Suspicion in the train must follow, too. 

That he is such a being as described 

By Calvinists. Away with such a thought ! — 

No ; I will never entertain at all. 

Now or hereafter, this heart-chilling thought. 

Unless I find him so by real proof; 

And Reason, with a clear and steady voice, 

Denies such proof can ever be obtained. 

Yet, while the idea by Reason is repelled 
That Calvinism can with truth agree, 
Arminius, with his windings, lies before me : 
My doubts are insupportable ; and fears. 
From day to day, oppress my troubled soul. 
When my enraptured spirits soar to heaven, 



«8>- 



^ . , 

THOUGHTS ON DEITY. 213 

And hold communion with the seraphs there, 
Delighted with the beatific rays 
Forever flowing from the eternal throne, 
These painful doubts assault me even there, 
They clog my pinions with their heavy chains ; 
And then with violence they hurl me down 
To earth, and leave me groveling in the mire. 

I 've viewed the subject, turning every side, 
With careful and with diligent survey. 
The dubious question which oppressed the mind 
Concerning yesterday's tremendous scenes ; 
Lest heaven's high King, displeased with my address, 
Had turned, in anger, this unusual leaf 
In my experience, to teach my soul 
With such petitions never to presume, 
Henceforward, to approach his sacred throne. 
As Reason aided while I this performed, 
From her unfailing dictates I conclude 
The winged tempest, and the thundering storm, 
The blazing lightning, and the torrent rain, 
Were surely not in indignation sent. 
As dreadful signals of Jehovah's wrath. 
And as chastising scourges for my fault. 
Besides, the Everlasting surely knows 
That I have always loved the lightning's blaze, 
The rumbling thunders, and the roaring winds ; 
And, raised to high beatitude, have seen 
These elements excited into rage, 



-# 



214 PEREGRINUS. 



In wild commotion, fury, wrath, and war. 

Would he as signals of displeasure send, 

To chide me for presumption and for sin, 

Those messengers in which my soul delights ? 

Though stunned I was by that enormous crash. 

When, all heaven's thunders bursting near my head, 

By their explosion, our gigantic oak 

Was rived and flung in shivered fragments round, 

Would any one by Reason's light infer 

From hence that evil was designed for me ? 

Or, from just reasoning, could he apprehend 

My deeds by this catastrophe reproved 1 

If so, the same may surely be supposed, 

If, in my travels on some future day. 

The explosion of a nitrous magazine 

Should on my senses have the same eflfect. 

Since Reason teaches I was not reproved 
By lightning, thunder, and tempestuous winds, 
Though my requests apparently remain 
Unnoticed by the Everlasting King, 
My heart is so afllicted, I '11 presume, 
Whate'er the consequence, to pray again. 

So spake this infant. Then, his bending knees 
Saluting earth, he with uplifted eyes 
And fervent soul addressed the eternal throne : — 

Almighty Father ! I have often heard 
That all of human progeny are born 



«t>- 



■ * 

HIS RENEWED SUPPLICATION. 215 

Completely dead in trespasses and sin, 

Averse to goodness and averse to thee ; 

That they are all produced in carnal state ; — 

Hence, their intelligence is wholly blind. 

The spirit's eyes enveloped with the flesh. 

And they are plodding on, through dismal night, 

They know not whither, while no glimmering ray 

Shoots through their darkness to direct their steps ; — 

That, while they in this carnal state remain, 

They 've no ability to comprehend 

Religious principles or Scripture truths ; — 

That real Christians, being born again, 

Regenerated by Almighty power. 

And, from a state of nature thus removed, 

Translated thence into a state of grace. 

Have new capacities to understand 

The doctrines written in thy Holy Book ; 

And that with eyes of spirit they perceive 

In sermons, in the Bible, in the Hymns, 

What other people never can discern ; — 

I 'T is said the volume of unfailing truth 

j Is to the unregenerate closed and sealed, 
And never can be opened to their view, 

1 Till they are changed, converted, and renewed ; — 

j Now, as I wish to understand the whole 

I That in the Holy Volume is contained, 

j I do beseech thee, eternal God, 
Bestow on me regenerating grace ; 

j Give me, I pray thee now, the second birth, 



«^- 



* 

216 PEREGRINUS. | 

(Not comprehending what can be implied 
By second birth, I ask the favor now ; 
And if continued supplications, Lord, 
Are prevalent, as holy people say, 
Then am I certain not to be denied,) 
For this regeneration now I plead ; 
At present I have nothing more to ask. 
I cannot be denied ; I must be saved 
From nature's state, emancipated, freed ; 
If human nature really be so vile 
That I can never while I this retain 
Receive the knowledge of thy living truth, 
O, let me by experience ascertain. 
Now, whether people who are born anew 
At once perceive and clearly understand 
That all thy doings are entirely right, 
These being such as ministers affirm ; 
Or, whether this same spirit, which they say 
The unregenerate never can possess, 
Bestows intelligence, which may reflect 
A new and different import on the words 
Of ministers and articles of faith, 
So that the phraseology employed 
By those who minister in holy things 
Should different meanings to the ears convey 
Of unregenerate and regenerate men. 
For whatsoever high and strange effects 
New birth produces on tiie minds of men, 
I wish to know them ; and to comprehend, 



<*■■ 



*- 



HIS RENEWED SUPPLICATION. 217 

With new-born intellect, transparent, clear, 

Religion and the character of God. 

I wish to be, Father ! all at once, 

New-born, this moment ; — now to ascertain 

If pious Christian people, when they talk 

Of God's eternal vengeance, fury, wrath, 

Mean everlasting equity and love ? 

His mercy, his benevolence, his truth? — 

All virtues amiable, supremely great. 

And glorious, — virtues worthy of a God. 

This knowledge certainly would make me blest 

And happy, wholly disregarding sounds, — 

Although corrosive to the tender nerves 

Of hearing, — since the spirit is content 

With these sweet imports to the mind conveyed. 

My importunity. Almighty King, 
I hope will find indulgence in thy sight, 
When this petition comes before thy throne, 
Since thy ambassadors (or men professing 
To be thy holy messengers) command us 
To be importunate in prayer, declaring 
Thou certainly wilt answer our petitions, 
If we perpetually still importune thee, 
Till thou art wearied with our daily comings, 
Long supplications, and incessant cryings. 
With fervent, zealous, never-ceasing pleadings, 
Especially, when we are supplicating 
With thee for new regenerate hearts and spirits. 



-1t> 



19 



dfc ^ 

j 2 IS PEREGRINUS. 

1 Although I am not destitute of fear 
That all this importunity will seem 
Presumptuous to the Universal King, 
I now am irresistibly impelled 
To follow their directions, since my heart, 
My soul, my spirit, all my inward powers. 
Are all anxiety, and cannot rest. 
Till this request is granted, and till I, 
Through agency divine, become new born. 
And spiritual ; receive intelligence 
To know the wisdom which from thee descends. 
I, therefore, Heavenly Father, am resolved 
Each day to importune thee more and more. 
Till thou art pleased to give me second birth. 
Should I be deemed impertinent in this. 
Since I 'm a little, inexperienced child, 
A son of yesterday, who nothing knows. 
Who seeks for knowledge, but who finds her not ; 
Sure all the criminality and blame 
Belongs to ministers, and not to me. 

Good people tell me that I have, in fact, 
Experienced this regenerating power, 
For which I now am supplicating Heaven — . 
Have passed from darkness into glorious light ; 
That I have been translated into life, 
And am a new-created child of God. 
But this I do not credit, since I know 
That I am certainly enveloped still 
With mental darkness and the shades of death. 



HIS VISION OF HELL. 219 

Thy preachers tell us whosoever dies, 
Not having known regenerating grace, 
Ascending to thy dreadful judgment seat, 
Will, as a reprobate, be there condemned 
To dwell with furies and tormenting fiends, 
Within a burning prison, dark and deep, 
As long as everlasting ages roll. 

Here ceased our infant ; for his lips no more 
Could utter speech, all power of motion lost, 
Touched by grim Horror's paralyzing hand. 
Imagination's realizing power 
Had, suddenly, before his eyes displayed 
The infernal world, with all its awful scenes. 
Extending far ; — a sea of liquid fire, 
Not far beneath him, with infernal noise 
And hideous bello wings, rolled its burning waves ; 
While monstrous apparitions, fierce and wild. 
Terrific, and of thrice ten thousand shapes. 
To which chimeras, hydras, furies wild, 
(The lion, goat and dragon, joined in one. 
The serpent-monster with his fifty heads. 
The fury-tresses, all of hissing snakes,) 
Were nothing ; nor could one presume to vie 
With these dire monsters of the infernal deep. 
Though all the forms which ever were portrayed 
By Ovid or by Milton join the train. 
If these deformed ones of Pagan song 
Should each produce ten thousand thousand whelps, 

# 



* 

220 PEREGRINUS. 

Thrice seven times each as ugly as herself. 
All these, while swimming in the deep below, 
And on the rolling billows mounting high. 
Leaped upward fiercely still, with vain attempts 
To seize this infant, and to drag him down 
To their black regions of eternal pain ; 
While in each horrid phiz malignant grins 
Gleamed like the (fancied baleful) comet's light, 
And from each glaring eyeball, as it rolled, 
Streams of pernicious lightning darted far, 
All seeming for his own destruction aimed. 
Yet falling short of their intended mark. 

The child had no ability to move. 
And from his sad position to withdraw. 
To shake these dreadful phantoms from his brain ; 
But, falling on the hillock where he kneeled, 
He quivering lay, in all the wild extremes 
Of terror, agony, and deep despair. 

Time and duration cannot be assigned 
To this strange vision, and terrific scene 
Of mental aberration. How should he 
Compute the passing moments as they sped ? 

No prospect of deliverance now appeared 
To this poor infant's agonizing mind. 
As helpless in debility he lay, 
Extended prostrate, while he scarcely seemed 
Beyond the reach of furies, rising high, 



* • < 

ANSWER TO HIS APPEAL. 221 

(Like winged fishes o'er the rolling waves,) 
Who, fiercely hurling at himself alone 
Their instruments of torture and their flames, 
Their rage, their vengeance, their malignant ire, 
With hissings, shrieks, and howlings, chilled his 

blood. 
Benumbed his nerves, and petrified his heart, 
Almost within the gelid grasp of death. 

The quivering vital flambeau, glowing now 
With feeble coruscations, had expired. 
Involving his small theatre in night. 
Had these distressing scenes continued long, 
Or been protracted till another hour ; 
Life, which so lately had her entrance made 
In his poor tragedy, had played her part 
And made her exit. But a sudden change. 
With different acts, and scenes entirely new, 
Here took possession of his mental stage. 
For high above him, lo ! a voice divine, 
In lofty accents, fraught with eloquence 
Beyond imagination's power, was heard 
Resounding through the clear cerulean arc, 
Attending with the beatific charms 
Of music and celestial harmony ; — 
Strains so delicious, potent and sublime, 
That in gradation with these heavenly notes, 
The boasted music of the Orphean lyre 
Were but the breathings of an oaten flute 



19^ 



^ 

222 PEREGRINUS. 



Compared with Handel's most enchanting lays ; 

Perhaps such holy melodies before 

Were never yet received by mortal ears 

Since Time's machinery first begun to move 

In revolutions round the orb of day, 

Save when the Sempiternal Father's voice 

(In that beginning of the Word of Life, 

When by the water and the Spirit's oil 

Messiah was inducted into God, — 

When Jesus here became the real Christ — ) 

Did, with articulation clear, pronounce 

The anointed man his well beloved Son, — 

The child of his good pleasure, who should teach 

The way of truth and righteousness to men ; — 

Or when the blessed missionary Paul 

In revelation's ecstacy was rapt. 

Far through succeeding heavens, to Paradise, — 

That long expected, long predicted age. 

The third great ceon of the Christian heavens, 

Which, being in gestation, should produce 

Unnumbered ceons, as they pass along. 

Each ceon pregnant with the high designs 

Of sovereign goodness for the human race ; 

(Rapt into that third heaven of heavens, he saw 

The glories high of man's immortal state, 

And heard inimitable music there. 

And sayings still in mystery involved, 

Too holy, too refined for mortal ears.) 



— * 

Jehovah's proclamation. 223 

The exanimated infant, where he lay 
In death's embraces, then imbibed the sound, 
(Harmonious chantings of celestial choirs,) 
With melodies divine, which human airs 
May not presume to imitate, nor take 
The name of music when compared with these ; 
These life-infusing, pure, seraphic strains 
Resuscitated spirit in his breast. 
Rapt into Paradise with him who stood, 
Of old, the Michael of the Christian church. 

Amidst these symphonies, the glorious voice, 
Superlatively holy and divine, 
(Which voice, description with her noblest powers, 
Howe'er sublime, would injure and degrade,) 
With life-infusing energy pronounced 
This proclamation, to revive his soul : — 
" I am Jehovah ; I, Almighty God, 
Your Father, 3^our Preserver, and your Friend ; 
In me experience all that you desire ; 
Be renovated : — I command you, live. 
In me be happy. I am All in all. 
Fear nothing ; you, encircled in my arms, 
Securely stand, though heaven and earth decay. 
I am Eternal, Uncreated Love, 
Omnipotent, unchanging and immense. 
My goodness is an ocean, which supports. 
Sustains, preserves, and nourishes at once 
The whole creation, floating on its waves. 
Since all your life is treasured up in me, 

. <g. 



224 PEREGRINUS. 



Your Sovereign and your Father, you are safe ; 
Confide in me, and be completely blest." 

The proclamation ended, all the spheres 
Above, and every object here below. 
Seemed yet to vibrate with the joyful sound. 
These life-creating, soul-refreshing words 
From heaven above descended to the earth, 
With light accompanied, a deluge pure ; — 
Essential effluence of immortal life ; — 
A silver-crystalline, ethereal flood, 
Which all the atmosphere with glory filled. 

Our infant, with this fluid now baptized, 
(This life-elixir-effluence of Heaven,) 
Revived and remvigorated, rose 
In sacred raptures from his turfy bed. 
Joy, love, and pleasure filled bis little heart. 
And consolations never known before ; 
While songs spontaneous and new anthems flowed, 
By love's sweet inspiration, from his lips, 
And hymns of praise, with gratitude replete. 
Ascended freely to Jehovah's throne. 

The child was happy in his Father's love, 
Whom he considered now supremely good. 
No doubt intruded to disturb his peace ; 
Nor one suspicion prompted this inquiry, — 
Was all o'erwrought imagination's fabric? 
Was all unreal as a fairy dream 1 

The dreadful horrors of preceding views 
Were now entirely banished from his mind ; 
<^ <^ 



^ 

PRAISE TO THE CREATOR. 225 

Not one slight vestige was remaining now 
Of raving furies, to annoy his soul, 
Abate his joy, or injure his repose. 
Thrice happy in Jehovah's love, he felt 
That nothing could his confidence disturb. 
Now founded on experience deep and strong. 

Thus did he then to Heaven his spirit raise, 
In songs of triumph, and in hymns of praise, 
And celebrated thus Jehovah's reign, 
While God with angels listened to his strain : — 

I now am satisfied, and will rejoice ; 
For my Creator, with immortal voice, 
Has spoken, to console me. I believe 
That all my fellow-creatures will receive 
Complete salvation, and from sin be free — 
The love extends to all which rescued me. 
His love I taste, and I adore it now ; 
My brethren will experience it, and bow, 
In holy adoration, at his feet — 
Their bliss perfected, and their joys complete. 
Each individual of the human race 
Will banquet on the rivers of his grace, 
Inhale and quaff beatitude and love. 
Beyond all evil, in the worlds above. 
I have perceived, and by experience known. 
The sacred effluence from Jehovah's throne. 
Which renovates the soul, restores the breath. 
And snatches mortals from the grasp of Death. 

_ 4 



226 PEREGRINUS. 



Is not Divine munilficence prepared 

For all 1 Has not Jehovah now declared, 

" I am Essential Love, and Love Immense "? 

(He has ; — and I received salvation thence.) 

His goodness is an ocean, and it laves 

Creation, floating on its towering waves : 

These, in due order, in succession roll. 

Create, sustain and regulate, the whole. 

In every orb its sacred fountains rise, 

Replete with inexhaustible supplies. 

Whose life-streams in abundance are diffused 

For wretched souls whose very hearts are bruised ; 

By sin and guilt, or superstition, crushed, 

(Enormous weights !) and trampled in the dust. 

They from the renovating baths arise, 

As spirits pure, and glide along the skies, 

To join with heavenly choristers, and sing 

The glories of the life-creating King. 

The rivers of immortal goodness flow, 

To comfort all above and all below. 

Thou, Father, who art most divinely good, 
Hast filled my spirit with celestial food ; 
In gracious condescension, thou hast fed 
My famished soul with life-renewing bread. 
How did the waters of salvation roll. 
To quench the burning anguish of my soul ! 
I drank, and lo ! the pinions of a dove 
Shot forth, and wafted me to joys above, 
High-floating on this atmosphere of love. 



god's wondrous love. 22' 

Thy crystal tide, descending from the skies, 

Did me (poor, wretched, dying child !) baptize : 

It drowned the spirits of internal strife. 

Which then were slaying me, and gave me life, — 

Seraphic life, not ever understood 

Before ; — the life of knowing thou art good, 

And that the effusions of thy goodness fall, 

Like showers of April, equally on all : 

And I am bathing still ; and still I lave 

Anew my spirit in the ethereal wave, 

Pure as but nothing is so pure as this ; 

(Thy nature flowing in a sea of bliss ;) 
And bathing, I increasing vigor feel, — 
New sense of energy, and heavenly zeal ; 
My weary spirits in thy goodness rest, 
And I am satisfied, and I am blest. 

Jehovah is all goodness ! by what name 
Shall I the wonders of his love proclaim? 
What name can his philanthropy display, 
Destroy the devil, and the wicked slay. 
By washing all their wickedness away 1 
Will no vocabul'ry a name afford, 
Which in my hand shall be the Spirit's sword, 
To strike at once the powers of evil dead. 
And crush the horrid serpent's cruel head ? 

Sin-captive mortals I would fain release. 
And give them liberty and heavenly peace : 
I 'd give the blind salvation's light to see, 
And from their dungeons set the prisoners free. 



-* 



# 

i 228 PEREGRllsrUS. 



I 've heard of sounds whose potency pervades 
Death's empire, and from his obscurest shades 
Impels the spirits to the light of day, 
To animate again deserted clay. 
If this be real, why should not a sound 
For these my purposes be also found, 
By which I may iniquity defeat. 
And hurl the tyrant from her regal seat 1 

I feel that Heaven has summoned me to wage 
A final war ; to face malignant rage ; 
And in decisive battles to engage 
With all the principalities of night. 
Armed with the panoply of sacred light. 
Commissioned from above, I hope to win, 
Ere long, a victory over death and sin, 
If, with undaunted spirit, I begin 
Betimes this expedition, long decreed 
To make the potentates of error bleed. 

When God prepares me for exploits so high. 
Say, should I not upon this humble thigh, 
Before I face those adversaries, gird 
The weapon Love, an all-subduing word? 
This weapon, edged with sacred truth, divides 
The joints and marrow, where it keenly glides, 
And severs soul and spirit, when it smites. 
Yet broken hearts, with healing power, unites. 
0, may its spirit on my person rest 



#- 



SALVATION-LOVE. 229 

In different forms, (to shield the tender breast 
From fiery darts, — a helmet for the head, 
When pointed iron flies, or rounded lead.) 
Yes ; I will march, with God himself my shield, 
In power invincible, and win the field. 

Love is indeed Almighty ! and his hand. 
Whene'er uplifted o'er the sea or land. 
In heaven or earth, no creature can withstand. 
But this alike its sacred influence plies 
Through all the systems floating in the skies. 
Then guide me to some word, whoever can. 
Which more peculiarly applies to man, 
And shows the operations which extend 
To him, and will in his redemption end ; 
A term appropriate to express his need, 
And those full blessings destined to succeed. 

Well, I have found a most appropriate name. 
Which I will use whenever I proclaim 
Jehovah's mercy, and unbounded grace. 
And loving kindness, to the human race. 
Salvation-Love shall be the term I '11 use 
The knowledge of Jehovah to diffuse : 
For surely this has in itself a spell. 
Whose energy no eloquence can tell. 
To captivate mankind, — to vanquish death and hell. 

Salvation-love, in God, was never bought : 
It has no price — it flows for all, unsought. 



20 



230 PEREGRINUS. 



This is the knowledge I to-day have gained ; 
How precious is the treasure thus obtained ! 
Short was Jehovah's speech, yet was it such, 
That in few words it comprehended much : 
In this, and in his signals, I discerned 
More goodness than before I ever learned. 
Which I must publish, and to all explain 
His sayings, and the blessings they contain. 

Salvation-love ! O let the joyful sound 
In echoes through the universe resound ; 
And, as rich perfumes, to the heavens ascend, 
Till Nature's revolutions have an end : 
And let his kind philanthropy be sung 
By every nation and by every tongue. 

O that I could, with angels, now unite, 
In worlds of glory and unsullied light ! 
My voice with pure ethereal spirits raise. 
In songs of gratitude and hymns of praise ; 
Attuning anthems on celestial lyres. 
With glowing seraphs, those immortal fires. 
Whose joy new glories, opening to the view, 
Forever and unceasingly renew ! 

But I of one attainment now conceive. 
Which, were it granted me, I do believe 
Would here superlatively raise my bliss 
Above seraphic ecstacies ; — 't is this : 



^ 



HIS DESIRE TO PROCLAIM GOD's LOVE. 231 



Ability to make the nations see 

The glories of the love revealed to me ; 

To show thy power and wisdom first, and then 

Thy tender mercies, to the sons of men : 

To manifest thy love to every one 

Of Adam's race, now understood by none ; 

Display Almighty Goodness, and recall 

Poor, wandering children to the Sire of all. 

The immaterial spirits of the skies. 

If I should ever, through thy favor, rise 

To this preferment most sublimely high, 

Might well aspire to be as blest as I. 

As, in the sunbeams, twinkling stars expire, 

Their bliss would cover its diminished fire. 

And from the presence of my joys retire. 

If all mankind had been assembled here. 
To see Love's deluge flow, an ocean clear ; — 
Had been, like me, when rising from the ground. 
With this pure effluence all enveloped round ; — 
Had seen and felt the crystal essence roll. 
To their renewal, both in heart and soul ; — 
How they, with ecstacies unknown before, 
And fulness of devotion, would adore 
Almighty Love and Universal Grace, 
Which flow divinely for the human race. 
Their sorrows would have all been washed away, 
And dismal night exchanged for glorious day, 
Had they, like me, been able to arise 
And listen to the music of the skies, 



'V- 



«> ■ — * 

232 PEREGRINUS. 

With joy attending to seraphic lays, 
And anthems chanted in Jehovah's praise ; 
While bathing- still in Love's essential sea, 
Which in its bosom still encircles me, 
While, W'ith ineffable delight, I lave 
My person with the life-essential wave. 

When will the nations hear the sacred voice 
Which made my troubled spirit so rejoice ; — 
The sound majestic, issuing from above, 
Declaring God to be Essential Love ; — 
Just such a God as, with unceasing pain, 
My soul was seeking long, in hopes to gain 
Some pleasing information, which would show 
His goodness to his children here below ? 
But now. Love's Deity himself has spoken 
To my afflicted heart, with sorrow broken ; 
His own articulations reached my ear, 
With accents loud, majestic, soft, and clear, 
Where I, expiring, on earth's bosom lay. 
In hopeless anguish, sorrow, and dismay ; 
(For through my bosom black Despair had thrust 
Her poisoned darts, and plunged me in the dust ;) 
His words uplifted high my sinking head, 
Renewed my spirit, raised me from the dead. 
Made me partaker of celestial wine. 
And mingled his immortal life with mine. 



— * 



SIXTH BOOK. 

Thrice ten degrees of his diurnal tour 
Had Phcebus measured in the are of heaven, 
Since Peregrinus, from the social board 
Of fair Amanda, to his place of prayer, 
Of study, meditation, and reflection. 
Retired for private intercourse w^ith God, — 
When he once more was summoned to the place 
Where she, with her two lovely sisters, waited 
For new disclosures of the tragic drama 
Whose scenes were acted in his opening life. 

The pilgrim entered ; then Amanda said, — 
Dear sir, by fervent, strong desires impelled, 
To hear still further of the wondrous life 
Of Peregrine, — events which have enlisted 
Our warmest sjmtipathies, — we have presumed 
To interrupt your musings, and request 
A full and free continuation, now. 
Of all the story of these early scenes. 

While this dear infant, with excited mind, 
Was in a howling wilderness of doubt, 



20* 



♦ 



234 PEREGRINUS. 



<» 



By superstitions and traditions vain 
Compelled to wander long, in search of bliss, 
Where peace and consolation never dwell, 
ImmcEisurable sympathy we felt 
With all his trials, and with all his grief. 
Long for salvation, truth, and Love Divine, 
The child was seeking ; — but, as we presume, 
We his strange journey have already traced 
Through dreary darkness to continued day ; — 
It is presumed that, from his prison loosed, 
He, to the present season, has remained 
A child of liberty, divinely free. 

How with anxiety my heart expands 
For more particulars ! Will you, kind sir. 
Indulge me now, with these my sisters, waiting 
To hear the story 1 Will you please to give 
A retrospection of the journey 1 This 
Too swiftly you passed over in your flight, 
As with velocity you skimmed along ; 
And some of these events will you rehearse. 
Left unrelated ? Will you thence pursue 
The thread of your narration to its end ? 
We must continue still unsatisfied. 
Till we the story perfectly have learned — 
Then ascertained the sequel of the whole. 

Requesting this, I fea,r that you will deem me 
Almost impertinent, — as on your patience. 
With idle curiosity, intruding. 

«» <%> 



—^ 

HIS FURTHER EXPERIENCE. 235 

Not SO, dear madam, said our Peregrinus ; 
Though painful is the task which you assign us, 
I still, with pleasure and a grateful heart, 
This information you desire impart. 
Vain curiosity does not intrude 
With such a fervor of solicitude 
As this, with which your queries and request 
Have been, through all our conversations, pressed ; 
My grateful heart will treasure while I live 
The proofs of amity which thus you give ; 
And I, if life should be protracted long, 
May celebrate them in a future song, 
If leisure moments should perhaps allov^ 
To give you then what time prohibits now. 

Would Heaven the anticipation were correct ! — 
The hope suggested of untold events 
Of Peregrinus' walk in sequent years, 
To be narrated still, if time permit ! 
that, dear lady, as you kindly hope. 
These coming scenes, indeed, were all replete 
With liberty, with cheerfulness and joy ! 

that, as once, a while, through many a week. 
The child had still continued to partake 
Of that delicious, rich, and mellow fruit 
Profusely yielded by the Tree of Life ! 
Compelled by your suggestion of this hope, 

1 prematurely must the hope reverse. 

Long after that imaginary vision. 



* 



236 



PEREGRINUS. 



Replete with life, with glories and delight, 

To him all seeming real, he rencountered 

Old Calvinism in mysterious shape. 

Much differing from the forms in which before 

The monster had perplexed him. Thus ensnared 

By his pernicious wiles, and captive led 

Into his gloomy caverns, — wild Despair 

Enveloped him with suffocating mists, — 

Heart-chilling, life-consuming, — which transmitted 

Its mortal venom to his very soul. 

Clenched in the giant's grasp, he struggled long 

With anguish, which before the proper time 

We shall not here endeavor to portray ; 

While bitter goblets he was forced to quaff, 

Impregnated with vengeance. All the cups. 

Surcharged with venom, which he drank before, — 

Nay, all, in dreadful concentration, joined, — 

Were nothing in comparison with this. 

We cannot these events before you lay, 
In due succession, as may yet be done, 
If Heaven a future intercourse permit. 
Time, mounted on his never-resting pinions, 
Now rushing onward, urges our departure. 
With your request forbidding our compliance, — 
Forbidding our unveiling all his journey. 
Through many a climate, as at first proposed. 
But, following your suggestion, we shall give 
Some retrospective views of labors past. 



"»- 



# 

RETROSPECTION. 237 



Oft taking an epitomizing glance 
Of scenes omitted in our rapid flight ; 
Then may we give a slightly dotted line 
Of his remaining journeys, yet unsung : 
By which, perhaps, the realizing power 
Of your imagination will portray 
His conflict and adventures through the course 
Which, led by your inquiries, we began. 

But now, reverting to those earliest scenes, 
By memory's vivifying power renewed, 
When first advancing to the task required, 
We give some others to the sounding lyre. 

As Peregrinus had reflected long 
Upon himself, — upon the universe 
Of nature seen around him and above, 
In all the varied landscapes of this earth, 
In all the splendid canopy of heaven, — 
And on the mystic Author of the whole, 
Styled by himself, the Father, Great, Unknown, 
Who sits invisible among the spheres. 
Or dwells above the reach of mortal ken, — 
He to his sister — to Irene — said. 
What is the reason I cannot remember 
The season when I first awoke to life 1 
Why not remember that important time, 
When light, and objects of the light, were new 
To these admiring eyes — what time at first 
I viewed them ? And why have I no conception 



-4> 



^ ^ 

238 PEREGRINUS. 



Of him that gave me being 1 — can you tell me I 
Why not remember my Creator, God? 

Irene answered, while she sweetly smiled : 
My little brother is a curious child ; 
I 'm sure no others can with him compare ; 
He asks surprising questions, I declare. 

No mortal living, in the whole creation. 
Except that earliest pair, which had their station 
At first in Eden's garden, could at all 
His life's beginning to his thoughts recall ; 
Because our intellects (which Sire defined 
As meaning all our faculties of mind) 
Are quite too feeble then to comprehend 
Affairs about us, or to these attend. 
Indeed, my brother, I do not believe 
That babes new-born are able to conceive 
Ideas at all, or have a single thought ; 
These, with their growth, are all within them wrought 
By their Creator's power ; — and these at length 
Are all matured with their completed strength. 
If new-born children nothing can observe. 
It follows hence, they nothing can preserve 
In memory's deposite ; for who retains 
Of aught possession which he never gains 1 

She ceased ; and Peregrinus answered thus : 
Yes, your ideas must truly be correct, 
Because no other reason can be given 



MYSTERY OF BEING. 239 



Why memory, though in less events precise, 
Yet fails to minute one so very great, 
And life's beginning all a perfect blank. 

Was not the transit wonderful, indeed^ 
From dull, cold, torpid matter into life? 
And would not feeble memories this retain, 
If not of observation quite devoid ? 
If so, then why not treasured up in mine, 
Though represented oft as nobly strong 1 
Yes ; I conclude we neither think nor act, 
When flung at random on this vital stage, 
And therefore life's beginning is involved 
In all the shades and mysteries of night. 

But I, moreover, clearly do perceive 
My forming to have been of recent date, 
Since I am yet a stranger in the world, 
Admiring all things — wondering at myself, 
A mystery, — while ten thousand mysteries. 
All equally unsearchable to me, 
Enclose me round ; — they swarm on every side, 
With joy commingled still infusing grief. 

How short the period which has yet elapsed 
For memory's exercise ! — yet all is dark. 
A stranger to myself, I cannot tell 
Whence I proceeded first, nor what I am ; — 
How landed here, nor whither I am bound. 
I wish that I could comprehend myself ; 
Then should I feel half-satisfied, at least, 



-* 



240 PEREGRINUS. 



With present knowledge, and await the rest 
With patience and serenity of mind. 

sister ! being to myself unknown, 
What is the value of my life to me ? 

She answered, I have heard our father say 
The man who know's himself is truly wise ; 
But small their number who to this attain. 
This, an acquaintance with our race will prove. 
Not only now, but from the very first. 
And having this affirmed, he then repeated 
The maxim of an ancient Grecian sage, — 

1 think his name was Solon, — " Know Thyself." 
He said this precept was the very best 

Of all by Pagan sages ever penned. 

Said Peregrinus, your report is strange. 
Then, do not sages fully know themselves ? 
If not, how can they be considered wise ? 

Irene, with a charming smile, replied. 
Complete self-knowledge is obtained by few : ' 
So father says, and father surely knows. 
I can no further say. 

He quick replied : 
But I will know myself. If earth affords 
The proper means by which I may procure 
Self-knowledge, I will be complete in this. 



-* 



SELF-CONFIDENCE. 241 

I truly hope you will, Irene said, 
(Her visage lighted with another smile,) 
But, really, with what confidence you speak ! 
A person, brother, judging from your talk, 
Would fancy all this earth at your command. 

What then, dear sister? Well, I have, indeed, 
All earth at my command. I now declare 
I '11 make it all contribute to my use. 
Exacting revenues from every part. 
Now what objections will you interpose 
To my compelling earth to do me good 1 

Not any, said Irene, laughing out ; 
Subdue it all, and rule it, if you can. 
But, really, (which I never learned before,) 
We have a little Alexander here ! — 
A second Alexander, on my word ! 

Said Peregrinus : — But I mean not so ; 
Irene, you 've my sayings misconstrued. 
However, I shall not explain, but leave them 
With you ; interpret them as best you can. 

We have remotely wandered from the topic 
Of our discussion. Shall we now return ? 

'T is evident I have not always been 
As now ; because the whole of nature seems 
Astonishing and new, while every day 
I make large acquisitions to my store 



21 



242 PEREGRIN us. 



Of information. that I could dive, 
Now, to the dark profundity of things. 
And comprehend life's fountain ! I behold 
A multitude of objects, like ourselves 
In species, while amazingly they differ 
In qualities of body and of mind. 
Some, in refinement, are serenely pure 
And delicate — are merciful and good ; 
Some rude, unfeeling, cruel, and uncouth. 
I have these differing qualities observed 
In folks of statures so extremely tall 
My shoulders never reach their lofty knees. 

Do you believe, Irene, this report, 
Which tells us all of these were children once, 
Not long since, and as feeble as ourselves? 
Do you believe that both of us have been 
As little as Elizabeth, who lies 
Now clasped in mother's bosom ; — and were both, 
Like her, supported by those nurturing breasts? 
And am I daily, by degrees, ascending, 
To reach ere long the stature of a man 1 

This all, dear brother, certainly is true ; 
Though once a little babe, you have become 
A child, to reason, study, meditate, 
And conversation hold, as now, with me. 
So you to manhood upward still are tending, 
Though by degrees insensible to you ; 
And, growing every night and every day. 



HIS DESIRE FOR MANHOOD. 243 

You may, perhaps, become as tall as those 
Whom you consider of gigantic stature ; 
You may become as tall as our best uncle. 

This is, Irene, pleasing confirmation 
Of common rumor, and it fills the mind 
With fond anticipations of delight. 
I wish the tardy years would roll away, 
And usher in the long-expected hour, 
By you predicted, when I shall complete 
This gradual increase, and be quite a man. 

My brother, this exceeds my comprehension, 
That you should really be so discontented 
With sportive childhood, which both men and women 
Declare the happiest season of our lives ; 
And wish for manhood, which, they all affirm 
Is full of labor, sorrow, cares, and trouble : 
I comprehend not ; — will you now inform me 
Why this anticipation so delights you. 
And beautifies your countenance with joy ? 

Why? Sister, really can you ask me why, 
With palpitating bosom, I aspire 
To manhood ? Do you think the towering height 
Of men is that which captivates my heart ? 
If such your fancy, I must tell you, Nay ; 
The men of lofty stature I despise. 
If nought superior to this possessing. 
Irene, to this height my wishes tend, 



244 PEREGRINUS. 

For reasons weightier than my lips can speak. 

I would be like our uncles and our sire, — 

Be like the holy ministers of God, 

Who stand delivering messages divine, 

Because that such are capable of knowledge, 

And knowledge is my heart's supreme desire : 

All this I did suppose you understood. 

And hence had no occasion for inquiring. 

For information does my bosom pant, 

And day by day still am I seeking her, 

And night by night her lovely phantom glides 

Before me, and she captivates my heart. 

Yet she, like shadows of swift-flitting clouds, 

Eludes me, still evading my pursuit. 

You ask the cause : well, do you comprehend it, 

My sister, now 1 — you have my only reason : — 

It is that I may so possess the means 

Of winning what of all things I the most 

Admire and love. You understand me now. 

With this, in competition, I would scorn 

The palace of the noble hero, Knox, — 

His wealth, his grandeur, (his enormous bulk.) 

But tell me, brother, do your words imply 
That you despise the general 1 

Surely not ; — 
I reverence him, because our father says 
That, in the scenes of battle and of death, 

4> 



PATRIOTIC HEROISM. 245 

Which tried the spirits and the souls of men, 

At his command Columbia's thunders moved, 

To quell the bloody, fierce, tyrannic rage 

Of proud, insulting- Britain, while she stood, 

Arrayed in cruelty, with vengeance crowned ; — 

Thus being proved a patriot truly good, 

That latest ages will confess him such, 

Howe'er by party malice slandered now. 

Another glory, which belongs to him, 

Is superadded to his martial fame — 

I 'm sure it is the noble hero's due, 

Because that I have heard our father say. 

Of late, he in the federal council stood, 

Approved by Washington, and Adams too, 

(When our great Washington his counsel asked,) 

With them consulting for his country's weal. 

To lead her on to glory, wealth, and fame. 

Thus, as a statesman and a warrior both. 

His country's honor justly he demands. 

I therefore love him, as 1 also love 

Great Adams, and the greater Washington, 

Wise statesmen of Columbia's revolution. 

With them united in that awful crisis, 

And faithful heroes of the dreadful day, 

Who fearless met proud Albion's vaunting hosts 

In war unequal, and expelled the foe ; 

Defeated tyranny's insulting legions, 

With all their servile, mercenary bands ; 

Redeeming fair Columbia from the load 

*— ■ ■ 1_4, 

21* 



246 PEREGRLNUS. 



Of dire oppression, and a foreign yoke. 
Our parents say their valor thus secured 
True liberty, with just and equal laws, 
For citizens of all the rescued States, 
And foreigners who seek a refuge here. 

I meant to say the general's vast possessions 
Of lands, far spreading through the country round us, 
With all his glory, honor, wealth, and fame, 
I hold as nothing, when compared with knowledge. 

You know, in part, my fervent aspirations 
To comprehend, like men of age mature, 
Affairs too deep and mystical for me. 
This knowledge men (so truly called) possess ; 
And I suppose they readily could answer, 
If willing, all that anxious children ask them. 
But why so often do they give replies 
Which seem as difficult for me to fathom 
As are the mysteries, before they speak. 
Of which they tender them as clear solutions. 
Is this, think you, because they over-rate 
The intelligence which God designed to give us 1 

No, sister, I would not be discontented 
With childhood, if I were not so perplexed 
With difficulties, which beset my way. 
For this sole reason, would I rise at once 
To full maturity. Unhappy children. 
Surrounded with an atmosphere of clouds, 
In darkness wandering, never see the light. 



<!?- 



IGNORANCE OF TEACHERS. 247 

If men are standing in the light of truth, 
To which we children now cannot approach, 
Why will they not vouchsafe to give the hand 
Which we desire, and help us to ascend ? 

But, said Irene, do we not mistake 
Concerning this perfection of their wisdom, — 
This elevation where they seem to stand 
Appearing higher than it really is ? 
And may we not imagine they pretend 
To greater knowledge than they do possess ? 
May not the obscurity of their replies 
Be well attributed, perhaps, in part. 
To cloudiness enveloping their minds, — 
Not all to our defect in comprehension ? 

Here Peregrinus answered, with a smile 
Of satisfaction glowing in his mien : 

Irene, yes, it may be truly so ; 
Sister, I 'm gratified with this result ; 
By many a seeming whimsical remark, 
I 've led you on to utter this suggestion. 
How frequently have I conjectured this. 
From their equivocal, evasive answers 
On certain topics ! They are loth to say, 
To young inquirers, " We are ignorant. 
Dear children, of the question now proposed, 
And hence unable to resolve your doubts : " 
While this avowal honesty requires, 



_ — . —^ 

248 PEREGRtNUS. 

Still pride, conceit and vanity, forbid. 
Are we not thus, by our instructors, wronged, — 
Our interests made a sacrifice to pride ? 
Not only so : but have you not observed, 
In all the varied ranks of human life. 
Both men and women who despise instruction — 
To folly wedded ; — who to Wisdom's beauties 
Seem wholly blind 1 How frivolous and weak 
Seem their discourses ! — like the down of thistles, 
Fit only for the sport of summer breezes. 
Moreover, with vexation, I have noted 
Some persons, reputed both wise and good, 
Disgrace their characters ; — for I have seen them 
Display so much of folly in their doings, 
And, in their conversation, fling about 
Such nonsense, that I privately have said. 
Now is it possible that such are men ? 
And are these women, who can so converse? 
Are they not rather huge, gigantic babes. 
With statures which have quite o'ergrown their judg- 
ment? 
How little does their wisdom correspond 
With their high reputation ! But my lips 
Shall not rehearse their sayings ; — nor will I, 
Now in my childhood, imitate their ways. 

But, sister, all the human race, indeed, 
Are not like these philosophers misnamed ; 
For though by folly numbers are degraded, 



* — 



HIS ASPIRATIONS. 249 

And are a scandal to the human species, 
Yet some to knowledge eminent have risen, 
And I may follow them. I wish to know 
The nature of the universe, — to learn, 
By deep investigation, all that is, — 
In all the regions of the solid globe. 
In deepest caverns of the flowing ocean 
And in the spangled canopy of heaven, 

He paused ; Irene answered, with emotion, 
Your aspirations are sublimely high. 
My little brother ; but have you considered 
The wonderful exertions requisite 
To gain this information you desire 1 

I have. What, in America, is known, 
I shall, with application night and day. 
Take, as the violent heaven's kingdom seize. 
Then will I travel round this spacious globe, 
Converse with every wise and knowing man, 
And lead him to communicate the secrets 
Of hidden knowledge, treasured in his mind. 

Said she : These aspirations are too high ; 
You must reduce them to a lower grade, — 
Must be contented with an humbler sphere, 
Nor universal knowledge make the goal 
Of your ambition, as you soar above. 
I fear your swelling canvas, spread afar, 



-^ 



250 PEREGRINUS. 



Will overset your vessel in the gale, 

And whelm it deep beneath the rolling tide. 

• 

Irene left him in his shady bower, 
To meditate and study quite alone ; 
This was improved with contemplations deep, 
Whose greater portion must abide untold. 
First in his little bosom thus he mused : 

Irene tells me of my swelling sails, — 
Bids me contract them, lest some howling wind 
Should whelm my vessel in the greedy seas. 
Nay : — be my swelling canvas still increased, 
And spread afar, to catch the rising gale. 
Swift o'er the billows to impel my bark. 
Would she extinguish this immortal flame, 
Which glows ineffably, — the vast desire 
For science and for information high 1 
No : — this ambition never will abate ; 
Speak not of my recanting this design ! 
let me know whatever is existing 
Throughout the universe ; — what now is doing 
By human beings, and by nobler creatures, 
(If such there be,) with all the old transactions, 
Among the nations, since the wheel of Time 
Around heaven's vast, immeasurable circuit 
Began to move ; — whatever is to be. 
Through all his revolutions yet to come ! 

He next, perambulating through the fields, 
Within his bosom to his spirit said : 



^ 

CREDULITY OF MORTALS. 251 

Since I resolve entirely to be clear 
From idle folly and from every vice, 
Whatever vanities to childhood cleave 
Must, by reflection, quickly be expunged ; 
For, when not timely pruned away, 't is plain 
That more adhesively they cling, and grow 
In full proportion, with the stature's growth. 

But here, Amanda, we must not delay, 
Though recollections might allure us yet 
A while to linger over scenes like these. 
Our progress now is onward, to review 
The difficulties, sorrows, doubts and fears, 
Attending our incipient stage of life ; 
And, resurveying all, to ascertain 
The general operations and effects 
Of that absurd, strange, incoherent mass 
Of principles, by clergymen pronounced 
The pure quintessence of celestial truth, 
On young and unsophisticated hearts. 

Why do not all our fellow-mortals ask, 
Like Peregrinus, Are the doctrines true 
Which in the nursery we first imbibed? — 
The doctrines weekly thundered in our churches, 
By men assuming most terrific aspects. 
As if believing their own impious preaching 1 — 
Though still their consciences, till cauterized, 
I Reprove them, and accuse them all the while 
I Of speaking falsely in the name of Christ. 

* * 



— «» 

25Q PEREGRINUS. 



We mean their doctrines, pagan-like and strange, 
Concerning God and angels — heaven and hell ; — 
The Trinity in God ; — the war in heaven, 
By means of haughty Lucifer's defection, 
Who from allegiance drew unnumbered hosts 
Of morning stars, all children of the Highest. 

Too early Peregrinus was informed 
How Christian doctors teach that one is three ; 
And that Three Persons, each Almighty God, 
Are but One God Almighty, and no more : 
That all are doomed to never-ending woes, 
Who cannot in their very hearts believe 
Three persons equal in the Deity, — 
Who must not be confounded, but received 
By all believers, — Three, distinctly Three ; 
Each, God — the Eternal ; — each, the Eternal Lord 
Yet one believing Three Almighty Gods, 
Or one believing Three Eternal Lords, 
Must be condemned to never-ending pains. 

Among the persons of this Triune God, 
One, named the Father, they have numbered First j 
The others called the Son and Holy Ghost. 
Concerning these Three Persons, each a God, 
(Three units, — hypostatically three ; 
Three units, — theologically one,) 
Both catechists and preachers taught the child 
The First of all the Persons of the Trine, 
(Whom truly they should number God the First,) 



THE TRINITY. 253 



By appellation God the Father, lives, 

And has existence in and of himself, 

Through past eternity's unmeasured space. 

Which never had beginning, still unchanged ; 

And through eternity, as yet to come, 

Which never shall a termination find, 

Without one single shade of variation. 

This God is Father to a second person, 

(By implication, to a second God,) 

Called Christ, Emanuel, Messiah, Shiloh, — 

The Son of God, begotten long before 

The birth of Time and all created things, 

From antimundane old Eternity, 

(As by themselves expressed, " Before all worlds.") 

They called this second person God the Son ; 

Him, with strange contradiction, they declared 

Coequal and coeval with his Sire ; 

Omnipotent, omniscient, self-existent, 

As independent in his life and being 

As God himself, — the Father who begot him. 

Next in this mythologic Trinity 
Is God the Holy Ghost, who numbers third ; 
Coequal with the Father and the Word, 
(Another appellation of the second.) 
They told him God the Holy Ghost proceeds 
From God the Father and from God the Son ; 
Yet being coeternal with the two. 
In power and glory equals each of these. 



-* 



22 



^ 

254 PEREGKINUS. 



Through these wild principles, our infant's mind 
In mazes of perplexity was lost ; 
He, musing deeply, wandered through the fields, 
And oft through groves and shady forests strayed, 
Lost in reflections on the doctrines taught, 
To try if he could possibly receive them ; 
For his religious teachers all declared 
That, disbelieving, he must shriek forever, 
In all the dire extremity of anguish ; 
In flames sulphureous forever glowing, 
Forever living, yet forever dying 
In flames, whose fury ever is increasing ; 
His vitals with their dreadful heat consuming, 
Yet never in eternity exhausted ; 
Their fibres still decaying, still renewing, 
Hopeless of termination or of respite. 
Through periods of duration never ending. 

Thus he was ruined by his first instructions ; — 
Through all his nerves their dreadful venom spread. 
And spoiled the vigor of his constitution. 

His pious mother taught her listening children. 
From old traditions of the fabling clergy, 
That in some period unknown to mortals, — 
Some distant region, never yet explored, 
Of past eternity's unfathomed ocean, — 
The Almighty summoned into life and being 
Myriads of princes of celestial regions, 
With lower ranks of spirits, — angels pure, 



THE SON EQUAL WITH THE FATHER. 255 

And seraphs glowing- with celestial fire ; 

But when each princely archangelic power 

Had long presided over his own province, 

The Eternal Father, from his throne of glory, 

Made proclamation of the new decree, 

That his Omnipotent, Eternal Son 

By all the heavenly hosts must be adored ; 

As equal to himself must be revered, 

And recognized as Sovereign Lord of all. 

In full assembly of ethereal powers, 

He poured the oil of glory on his head. 

And crowned him sovereign of created spheres ; 

Then with an oath that shook the heaven of heavens. 

The honor of his majesty confirmed. 

This being finished, heaven's Immortal Sire 
Bade heralds, who with swifter motions glide 
Than rays emitted from the source of day. 
Proclaim aloud, through all the worlds of life, 
The law supreme that heaven's anointed King, 
By titles of mysterious import known, 
God's Everlasting and Almighty Word, 
And his eternal, uncreated Son, — 
As equal to his Sire must be obeyed 
By all the sons and potentates of heaven. 

Ecclesiastical mythology 
(In our domestic circle gravely taught) 
Informed us further, — this divine decree 
Gave umbrage, on its earliest promulgation. 



256 PEREGRINUS. 



To noble Spirits hitherto unused 
To bow in reverence to more than One — 
That One acknowledged God and Sire of all. 
'T was said inferior spirits, too, were moved, 
By double subjugation, to revolt 
Against the Son's dominion, and throw off 
From unaccustomed necks the servile yoke 
So recently imposed. From hence arose, 
In heaven, of old, rebellious insurrection 
Against the sovereignty of God's Messiah. 
Hence, armies following armies soon appeared, 
Far stretching over the empyreal plains, 
Arrayed in martial order, well equipped 
For battle ; fierce and eager to engage 
In combat with Messiah's host, who stood. 
Already marshalled by a glorious chief. 
Called Michael, who had received the power 
(For this commissioned by the anointed King) 
Of leading all the heavenly armies on 
Against proud Lucifer — the rebel Prince ; — 
To drive the sinner from his high abode, 
And with him all the followers of his crime, 
And with the chains of never ending night. 
Confine them in the regions of despair. 
Undaunted, never-failing courage glowed 
In all their bosoms, eager to decide 
By force the litigation pending now 
Between proud Lucifer, the morning-star. 
And great Messiah, God's Eternal Word. 



•«>- 



*- 



REBELLION IN HEAVEN. 257 

These doctrines and narrations were replete 
With doleful tidings to the tender mind 
Of Peregrinus, when by him received. 
What shuddering seized him, when he first was told 
Of enmity in worlds of perfect love ! 
Of fierce commotions in the realms of peace ! 
Of sin and misery in the blest abodes 
Which he before had ever understood 
Were realms of holiness and perfect bliss ! 
Of filthiness, in all her mad extremes, 
Where he supposed that purity prevailed, 
And no contamination entered there ! 
Of war, destruction, and of horrid rout, 
Of ruin and expulsion, where he deemed 
The inhabitants eternally secure 
From sin, temptation, and from every ill ! 
He mourned, in all the bitterness of grief. 
That earth and heaven seemed equally exposed 
To every danger and to every snare, 
And that beneath the great Jehovah's throne 
No station of security is found. 

Then said our infant, Why should I desire 
Admission into heaven 1 His shining walls, 
His golden pavements, and his pearly gates, 
Will give me no security from sin ! 

Such were his sad reflections when he heard 
The archangel bright, the morning's eldest son, 



^2' 



258 PEREGRINUS. 



Called Lucifer of old, but Satan now, 
Opposed Jehovah's mandates, and seduced 
From their allegiance to the Eternal King 
One third of all the flaming sons of light ; 
And these rebellious spirits all were hurled 
Down from the abodes of blessedness, with wrath, 
And with vindictive fury, into hell. 

Long with his spirit he communed in secret. 
And grieved alone, with anguish still augmenting, 
Disconsolate and gloomy ; then he ventured. 
In presence of his kind, his gentle teacher, 
To give his sorrows vent in these expressions : — 
If angels have transgressed, and been ejected 
From thrones of glory and from seats of pleasure, 
Why then should mortals on this earth aspire 
From this time forward to ascend to heaven 1 
It seems, from this instruction newly given, 
That even his brilliant regions lie exposed 
To malice, to sedition, rage and war, 
Iniquity, and every sort of evil 
Known here to mortals or by them conceived ; — 
To cruel jealousy, to envy's flame ; 
To dire calamities of every name ; — 
Then does it not most certainly appear, 
The miseries which celestial spirits fear 
Are vastly more terrific than all we suffer here? 
Dear mother, tell me, why should I desire 
Admittance into heaven 1 His shining walls, 



THE HOLY ANGELS. 259 

His golden pavements, and his pearly gates, 
Can give me no security from sin ! 

To this our pious teacher, to allay 
Her infant's sorrow, quickly thus replied : — 
Fear not, my dearest ; evil never more 
Will gain admission to the upper worlds. 

It seems that angels, like the sons of earth, 
Had once their time of trial, — their probation, — 
(To use the proper clerical expression,) 
A period limited by Heaven's decree. 
In which to try their persevering faith. 
But all the holy ministers assure us 
Their time of trial now is past forever ; 
The seal of everlasting reprobation. 
They say, is fixed upon the fallen spirits, — 
A doom irrevocable and eternal, 
All hope excluding from the infernal dungeons. 
The holy angels, in that dreadful crisis. 
When war and devastation raged above. 
With havoc wild, defacing realms of glory, 
Wild horrors brooding o'er the worlds of light, 
Gave proof sufficient of unfailing zeal, 
Fidelity, and everduring love, 
To God the Father and the Eternal Son. 
Their labors God approved, and so confirmed them 
To stand forever in their high estates ; 
And thus the time of their probation ended. 

Poor mortals have their trial here below ; 

^ __ ♦ 



260 PEREGRINUS. 



This life is our probation-time ; at death 
Our destinies will be forever sealed, 
For never-ending happiness or woes ; — 
Then all who make their exit unrenewed 
Will be to endless misery consigned, 
To dwell with demons and tormenting fiends, 
In regions of interminable pain ; 
But those who in reality repent. 
Forsaking truly all their evil ways. 
And live in holiness below the sky. 
When death extinguishes their vital lamp, 
And with it their probation state expires. 
Are met by convoys, — by cherubic hosts, 
And pure angelic legions, — who escort 
Their souls to regions of eternal bliss. 
No evil thoughts, temptations, pain or grief, 
No dire forebodings of impending ills. 
Can there approach to interrupt their joys. 

So spoke the instructress ; but her little child 
(His fears not being perfectly suppressed) 
Said, in his little troubled heart alone, 
I fear, since Evil in the heavens above 
Has ventured once to rear his odious head, 
And there has rioted without control, 
I fear that he may enter once again. 
And interrupt the sacred peace of heaven ; 
But still I hope not, as our mother says 
That this can never once again occur. 



#■ 



THE FALLEN ANGELS. 261 

How was the child astonished when he learned 
That all the holy angels bright and pure 
Rejoiced and triumphed, with loud acclamations, 
When great Messiah hurled their brothers down, 
Down into oceans of eternal fire ; 
That after this, with long protracted songs 
And sounding anthems, still they celebrated 
This horrible event ; — and yet they knew 
These old companions, long their bosom friends, 
And intimate partakers of their bliss, 
Were doomed to endless burning — were preserved 
For keen despair and never-ending pangs. 

Ah ! why should Heaven prolong their wretched 
lives ? 
Why not, with hope, exterminate their being? 
To him it seemed for this malignant purpose 
They were preserved — to gratify revenge ; 
To gratify the strange propensity, — 
The pleasure of inflicting cruel torments, 
Inflicting never-terminating anguish. 

These dreadful doctrines overwhelmed his soul 
With horrors, with astonishment and grief. 
While musing on the cruelty of God, 
And his unfeeling worshippers in heaven, 
Styled by the ministers the Holy Angels. 

But these were all forgotten, wholly drowned. 
In stranger doctrines following in their rear. 
And, like Young's miseries, "treading on their heels." 



# 



* — -^ 

262 PEREGRINUS. 

He learned that when these proud triumphal an- 
thems, 
Which then were chanted in the courts of heaven, 
And all the ethereal worlds, (to celebrate 
The great Messiah's victory,) had ceased 
To echo through the regions of the sky ; 
When silence in the heavens again prevailed, 
Affording leisure to celestial choirs 
To notice all the vacant seats above. 
Left on the expulsion of the rebel foes, — 
Thrones which as fearful monuments remained 
Of devastation there in worlds of light, 
As sad memorials of this dismal fact, 
That archangelic powers have been ejected 
And hurled from thrones of shining glory down 
To regions of interminable woe ; 
When silence gave them leisure to survey 
These demonstrations that the heaven of heaVens 
Affords no full security of standing, 
(Diminished heaven still gave terrific warnings. 
And bade his inmates all " Beware of falling ;") 
And when they from their lofty state beheld 
The chasm which below their feet was yawning. 
While over threatening ruin they were treading. 
Unguarded, unprotected, insecure, — 
From this dire topic to divert their minds. 
The A Imighty suddenly arose and formed 
This tiny atom of the spangled sky. 
This mole-hill of the universe, called earth. 



_ <^ 

god's holy truth. 263 

Some told him 'twas the Omnipotent decree, 
With this world's tenants through successive ages, 
Transporting and translating them above. 
The vacancies of heaven at length to fill, 
And thus expunge all tokens of his loss. 

'T was said on earth he made a human pair, — 
The first man Adam and his consort Eve, — 
Mature in stature, in experience babes, 
And unpreparedvfor dangers or for guile. 
Then were our first progenitors exposed. 
Without a fortress and without a guard. 
To all the machinations of the throngs 
Of rebel-angels, which had been expelled 
By Michael or Messiah, and confined 
In black infernal dungeons : — but ere long 
Released from their confinement. 
^ Why released I 

Why did the Almighty set the foe at large ? 
Why give him scope unlimited to roam 
O'er all this earth, concerting crafty plans 
To cheat, beguile, ensnare the human race, 
And lead us " down a smooth and slippery way," 
To his own realm of horrors and despair 1 

But said our infant. How can I receive 
These statements as the verities of Heaven ? 
Dear mother, may I tell you what opinion 
I 've entertained concerning holy truth. 
Divinely issuing from Jehovah's throne 1 



<#>- 



264 PEREGRINUS. 



-^ 



Yes ; tell me, dearest, what the opinion is 
That you of sacred truth have entertained. 
Which from Jehovah's throne divinely flows. 

Well ; this is what I always have conceived 
Of real, genuine Truth, of Truth Divine, — 
This eldest daughter of eternity : — 
She is a faithful friend to all that live ; 
'T is she that heals the wounded, broken heart ; 
She sets the prisoner free, breaks every yoke 
Of servitude, iniquity and fear ; 
Gives liberty to slaves, and life to those 
Who lie enveloped with the shades of death. 

Was this opinion, mother, incorrect? 
Does Truth, instead of liberating slaves, 
Reduce the sons of liberty to bondage ? 
Is she invested with the dismal robes 
Of midnight, covered o'er w^ith sable clouds? 
Are terrors and the furies her attendants, 
Whene'er she condescends to visit mortals? 
Do storms and hurricanes precede her coming, 
Fierce and tempestuous, darting ponderous hailstones, 
With pitch and burning sulphur intermingled ? 
Is Truth, as I supposed, a liberator. 
To free us from the galling yoke of sin ? 
Or does she, like a tyrant fierce and cruel. 
Enlarge our burdens and increase our chains ? 

Are all the maxims I so often hear 
From lips maternal and from holy preachers 



TRUTH. 2o5 

Her genuine offspring'? May they not be found, 
Surveyed by Wisdom's scrutinizing eye, 
The spurious progeny of Imposition, — 
Her sacred name most artfully assuming, 
To injure mortals and to libel heaven. 
Disguise and mask the charming face of nature, 
And veil creation with the shades of death 1 

My dear, replied his parent, your ideas 
Concerning Truth in all her operations 
Are certainly correct ; you must retain them. 
Truth is, indeed, a glorious liberator, 
Delivering mortals from the yoke of bondage ; — 
Her visage to the righteous is most lovely ; 
Her smiles are soul-reviving and delightful ; 
By night and day they meditate her charms, 
And every day new beauties they discover. 
Enamored with her mild celestial glories, 
Perennial charms, through ages never fading. 
But ever in the sight of faith increasing. 
Her form is lovelier than the Paphian goddess, 
In mythologic poetry described. 
Adorned with all the loves and all the graces ; 
Alluring graces, every hour improving. 
Play in her smiles and regulate her motions. 

Her brilliant glories light the pilgrim's journey 
From earth to heaven, through this benighted region 
Of drear mortality, this vale of tears ; 
Her influence invigorates his nerves, 



23 



266 PEREGRINUS. 



To march with patience, and to fight with courage 
The powers of darkness, when by them assaulted, 
And through her potency he proves victorious. 
His sword by her is furnished ; — view the blade ; - 
'T is of ethereal temper ; darling, try it ; 
Assault the fiends and drive them to. their autres, 
That they no longer may disturb your peace, 
And ruffle thus your spirit. (Oh ! the fiends ! 
How impudent, impertinent, audacious. 
To vex my darling with their opposition 
To doctrines spiritual, divine and holy !) 
The fiends can neither parry nor abide 
The well-aimed strokes of this celestial weapon ; 
Far ofl^ its glittering smites them all with terror ; 
Their power and vigor shrivel in its rays. 
Emitted from afar, and while approaching 
They find themselves unfitted for the combat. 

How blest and happy is the Christian pilgrim 
Who with this holy instrument is.furnished, 
Unsullied from the armory of God ! 
Who, being well instructed, ever wields it 
With sacred energy, with skill divine ; 
Is proved a valiant soldier of the cross. 
If all the powers of darkness should assault him, 
Together rushing, with infernal onset ; 
In its unconquerable power confiding, 
Would he resist them in the name of Jesus, 
Rout all their armies and disperse their legions, 



^ _ . 

TRUTH. 267 



Then march securely on their way rejoicing. 
He knows the mystic virtue of his sword, 
And hence he fears not all the infernal princes ; 
He in the hour of conflict stands collected 
And cool, amidst the horrible confusion 
Of wild infernal shriekings, howlings, shoutings, 
Of troops, surpassing number, madly rushing, 
All bent on his destruction. She secures him 
With her unseen impenetrable armor. 

Such is the visage of celestial Truth, — 
Her aspect and appearance so divine, — 
And such, in Wisdom's eye, her sacred beauties. 
So glorious, so effective, her protection 
To goodness, perseverance, faith, and virtue. 
While through this wilderness she marks the way 
To heaven, the region of eternal glory. 
My child, adore her ! my son, embrace her ! 
Make her your patroness and your protector, 
And you are safe in time and safe forever. 

But you have spoken of her seeming terrors. 
Her dire attendants, and her robes of vengeance. 
My dearest child, you only have observed her 
While 'kerchiefed with the clouds of awful Justice, 
And thundering vengeance from the top of Sinai. 
'T is true, her aspect then appears most hideous ; 
Her breath is lightning and her voice is thunder ; 
Her words, like fabled thunderbolts of Jove, 



-* 



^ 

268 rEREGRINUS. 

Are hurled in wrath and fury from the skies, 
To smite rebellion and destroy his castles ; 
As piercing as the lightning of Jehovah, 
From heaven emitted to destroy the guilty. 
But 0, my darling child, you must remember 
These words are uttered in the ears of sinners 
To wake their consciences and to convert them ; 
'T is her intention to alarm their spirits 
With guilty fears, and make them fly to Jesus 
For refuge and protection from the tempest. 
She knows he will receive them to his bosom, 
And give them all the treasures of salvation ; 
Hence she performs her noblest work of love, — 
Her work of mercy to the human race, — 
When she as herald to high Justice comes. 
And wnen, arrayed in her terrific robes. 
She with her terrors rocks the quivering world. 
While earth affrighted hears her trumpet sound. 

But when she sweetly whispers to the righteous. 
Her voice is more harmonious and melodious 
Than all the music of seraphic choirs, 
To which the Almighty listens with delight. 
As throned on high the Eternal Father sits, 
Within the temple of the upper skies, — 
The sanctuary of Eternity, — 
In boundless glory, breathing heavenly perfumes 
(Life-giving odors) through the realm of bliss. 

But to the vicious, true, she is horrific ; 



THE MISSION OF TRUTH. 269 

She is, and should be, dreadful to the wicked : 

They see no beauties in her lovely visage, — 

Her charms are all invisible to them. 

Her eyes, when flashing on the guilty conscience, 

Rive soul and spirit, like Jehovah's lightning ; 

Meanwhile her voice, like mineral explosions, — 

Like Etna's bellowings, or like Sinai's thunders, — 

Breaks on the sinner, stuns him, and confounds him. 

'Tis she reveals to Satan's earthly prisoners 

Their dungeon and their fetters, — makes them feel 

Their heavy burdens and their galling yokes ; 

Though both were wholly unperceived before, 

For sinfulness had paralyzed their nerves. 

And cauterized the fibres of their hearts, 

And rendered amaurotic all their eyes. 

Made thus impervious to the piercing rays 

Of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness divine. 

Their consciences were torpid, deaf and blind. 

Till Truth, by her mysterious powers, revived them ; 

She makes them feel their present evil state, 

And groan beneath the burden of their guilt,^ 

A vast and long accumulated load, — 

A ponderous mountain, crushing them to earth ; 

She opens to their view the dark abyss 

Of misery, where infernal demons howl 

And gnaw their irons, in amazing pain. 

Surpassing all conception. See, she cries. 

This awful pit wide yawning now for you ; 

"While earth is crumbling underneath your feet, 



23* 



270 PEREGRINUS. 



And you are hastening to the dismal gulf 

From which there 's no deliverance. Wake betimes ! 

Would you escape these agonies, repent 

While peace and pardon yet may be obtained ; 

Quit all your evil, your pernicious ways, 

And wash your garments in the Saviour's blood ! 

Lo ! she commissions heralds of the cross, 
And bids them travel through the darksome world, 
With tidings of salvation. Go, she cries. 
Armed with the panoply which I provide ; 
Go forth as heralds, and as soldiers too ; — 
Go — summon all my enemies to yield. 
Lay down the arms of their rebellion now, 
And pay due honors to the Prince of Peace ; 
Go — call on sinners to receive my word, 
Take my salvation offered them, and live ; 
Go — and persuade them by the charming voice ' 
Of gospel-grace, to yield to mighty Love, 
Believe on God's Messiah, and be saved. 
Go forth, ye Boanerges, in the name 
Of heaven's Eternal King, with awful power, — 
With all the lightning of Mount Sinai armed, — 
With all the artillery of the upper worlds, 
And all the terrors of the world below ! 
Bid mortals know the dangers of their state, — 
Alarm the guilty consciences of men. 
And thunder terrors to the guilty souls 
Now on the verge of never-ending woe ! 
She bids them in their ears the trumpet sound, 
*- -< 



*- 



THE MISSION OF TRUTH. 271 

Till these, at their condition terrified, 

Flee from the city which is doomed to burning 

To mountains of salvation, — to the Lamb 

Who died on Calvary ; — the precious Lamb, — 

The Lamb, prepared according to the counsel 

Of heaven, from all eternity decreed, 

"Who died on Calvary ; — the Lamb of God, 

Who, (being offered for the sins of all, 

A precious sacrifice, without defect 

Or blemish, pleasing in Jehovah's sight,) 

The world's transgression (to himself transferred) 

Assumes, and bears their heavy guilt away. 

Truth bids the sinner, while the day of grace, — 
The day of pardon, — is protracted still. 
For refuge fly to God's Anointed Son ; — 
To make acquaintance with their future judge, 
And gain his friendship long before the trial. 

You see the means by sacred Truth employed 
To liberate the wretched slaves of sin ; 
She manifests their present vile condition, 
And prophesies of vengeance yet to come, 
Then shows them where their Great Deliverer sits, 
Propitious, merciful, with hands extended 
To those who will accept the proffered grace. 

To you and me she now is calling, dearest, — 
" Prepare for meeting God in death and judgment ; 
Prepare to dwell forever in his presence, 
And be partakers of Messiah's glory." 



272 



PEREGRINUS. 



How momentary is the present life ! 
How, meteor-like, it glares, and then expires, 
And, quenched in death, it vanishes forever ! 
We, poor, unthinking- mortals, having passed 
Awhile through sleeping and through waking dreams, 
Whose scenes are equally misunderstood. 
And both deceive us. this balloon explodes. 
And leaves us, who are wafted on the bubble, 
If not for this catastrophe prepared, 
(Our vessel to the skies securely moored, 
Our anchor being cast within the vail,) 
To plunge in night, and be forever lost ; — 
It leaves its wretched passengers to sink 
Beneath perdition's ever-rolling waves. 
Deep into miseries, hopeless, never-ending. 
And pains, not mitigated in the least. 
When ages inconceivable have fled. 
Ages unnumbered, in their dreary flight. 
Pass o'er the realm of torment ; — every age, — 
With raven-colored pinions, newly steeped 
In baleful waters, those mortiferous baths. 
Whose waves are pregnant with eternal death, 
(The waters of a sluggish-flowing stream, — 
A melancholy river, black and deep, — 
The dead, the oozy Styx, — ) sheds black despair, 
In never-ceasing showers, on hopeless souls 
Condemned to languish in the burning lake 
To all eternity ; — by fiends annoyed 
With horrid shrieks, — annoyed with harpy-yells 



* 



THE NEVER-DYING SOUL. 273 

Most hideous, and with worse than harpy-stench, — 

With suffocating gas, sulphureous fumes, 

And dire effluvia of rotting flesh 

On living carcasses, — with senses keen. 

Forever living, yet forever dead ; — 

Enduring, through eternity, at once 

The pains of dying and reanimation, 

In all their fierce and terrible extremes. 

I can admit of no objection here. 
In doctrines where the clergy all unite 
There surely is no error, no mistake ; 
Hence we are bound these doctrines to receive 
From these interpreters of truth divine. 

But on these topics ministers agree ; 
For herCj with one accord, the clergy teach 
That every person of the human race 
Is furnished with a never-dying soul, — 
A pure, ethereal, intellectual spirit, — 
A vital effluence of the Deity ; — 
Mysterious offspring of Jehovah's breath, — 
An immaterial, undecaying essence ; 
A soul, which must vitality possess, 
And suffer miseries, or enjoy delight. 
As long as God Omnipotent endures. 

Next, — all the pious clergymen agree, 
That when a sinner unconverted dies, 
His precious and immortal part descends 



-* 



274 PEREGRINUS. 



To fiery seas, to be tormented there, 
Through periods now unnumbered and unknown, 
Reserved for trial to the grand assize, — 
The final day of universal doom. 

Now when this long-predicted hour has come, 
And Gabriel's trump reanimates the dead, 
Then all mankind, their flesh and souls united. 
Will stand before the inexorable bar 
Of Jesus, once a sympathetic Saviour, 
Compassionate, and feelingly alive 
To all the miseries of his fellow-men, 
(To all their present or their future sufferings,) 
Whose bosom heaved with delicate sensations 
Of soft compassion for embittered foes. 
Who pitied wicked Salem, and bewailed. 
With floods of gushing tears, her coming ruin, — 
Proud city of his most embittered foes. 
Even then against his precious life conspiring. 

This self-same Jesus, when the day of grace 
Which God vouchsafes to wretched sinners now 
Is ended, when probation-time expires. 
Will change to wrath and to unpitying vengeance. 
And sit a judge most awfully severe. 
To woes eternal dooming vile transgressors, — 
Committing them to Tartarus, and sealing 
His massive, adamantine gates forever. 

Now, after sinners make their final exit 



-*> 



t 

LOVE DIVINE. 275 

From life, till this amazing day of judgment, 
Will God's tempestuous raging fury beat 
On poor, tormented, ever-hopeless souls, 
In one perpetual, unabating storm, 
Tossed by infernal, heaving, fiery billows. 
In pains surpassing human comprehension. 

Our infant here, incapable of speech. 
Stood motionless a while ; then hastened out 
To seek refreshment in the vernal breeze. 
And calm his anguish with a flood of tears. 

But, lady, we 've anticipated here 
What should in future dialogues appear. 
When memory shall proceed (in her narrations, 
By you requested) to succeeding stations, 
Of following annual circles to rehearse 
Infantile trials in her humble verse. 
Till, at the eighth arrived, she terminate 
Her numbers, leaving you to ruminate 
On his experience, and anticipate 
The way that Heaven, through childhood and in youth, 
His steps conducted to the shrine of Truth ; — 
Heart-cheering Truth ! salvation full and free, 
Including all, as well as you and me ! 
(Messiah's all-subduing love divine 
The whole creation will at length refine, 
And all pollution from the world remove 
To non-existence ; — this the Scriptures prove. 



-<» 



270 



to PEREGRINUS. 



As we, at your request, our eyes have cast. 
With mingled grief and pleasure, o'er the past, 
The effect of our first teaching to display. 
With colors faint its horrors to portray. 
And open to your view an infant's breast, 
To show the heart with crushing torture pressed, — 
Amanda, tell me, if the power above 
Is good and merciful, — his nature Love, — 
Are these traditions of the clergy true 1 
Consult your reason — I appeal to you. 
Love is Almighty, — Love all spirits will subdue. 

Yes : — Love will conquer all. " But God is just ! ' ' 
Exclaims the partialist. 

O sacred name 
Of Justice, how profaned ! O Syracuse ! 
If this were justice in the Sire of all. 
Thy tyrant, stern and horribly severe, 
Should in historic annals be enrolled 
An image fair of equity divine ; 
If this be justice in Almighty God, 
All thy historians, O imperial Rome, 
Have injured Nero and Caligula, 
Denouncing them as cruel and unjust ; — 
They should have been portrayed as glorious models, 
Their justice to be imitated long. 
As fair examples as were ever seen 
Of the attributes of heaven's Eternal Sire, 
(Though of his cruelty faint emblems still.) 



<^- 



^ ^ 

QUALITIES OF THE REDEEMER. 277 

The child of sorrow, when at length refreshed 
By weeping and by straying in the fields, 
With mildly gentle zephyrs' soft caresses, 
And with the fragrancy of early flowers, 
From his perambulations soon returned. 

Then to his gentle teacher thus he spoke : 
You tell me, mother, that the Saviour Jesus 
Will change, hereafter, to unpitying vengeance, 
And sit a judge most awfully severe. 
To endless torments dooming vile transgressors. 
The children of a day, still prone to evil. 
By means of Father Adam's poisoned apple, 
Of which he rashly ventured to partake, — 
The Almighty Sovereign having caused its venom 
To taint the blood of all our generations. 

'T is horrid news, that even our blest Redeemer 
Will change to fury, to unpitying wrath, 
To vengeance, and immitigable rage. 
Will Jesus change — the merciful, the good? 
Will he become vindictive, like his Father? 
Is, then, the time hereafter to arrive. 
When, through the whole immensity of being, 
No love, no tender mercy, will exist? 
And is the time with rapid strides approaching, 
When, through the unbounded universe of God, 
No better qualities can e'er be found 
Than wrath, and vengeance, and vindictive hate? 



*- 



24 



27S PEREGRINUS. 

Once, while instructing us concerning Jesus, 
(Your children, with the Macintoshes all,) 
I clearly do remember then y«u told us 
Our Saviour is unchangeably the same, — 
In former time as now, and so forever, 
Without the slightest shade of transformation. 
You told us also, of Almighty God, 
Through all the ages he is, too, unchanged; 
In him eternity can never find 
The slightest semblance of a variation. 
I cannot, mother, reconcile these sayings. 
That Christ is everlastingly the same, — 
Unvarying, yesterday, the same forever, — 
Yet, on the great and final judgment day, 
This Jesus changes to unpitying wrath, 
And dooms poor creatures to unending torments. 
How can we reconcile these contradictions 1 
How every day perplexities increase, 
As every day you give me fresh instructions ! 

His loving teacher answered : — Dearest child, 
You are too critical, — you are, indeed. 
This makes the labor of instructing you 
Severe and difficult. You ask me questions. 
Too often, which no minister could answer. 

'T is true, two contradicting propositions 
Are never both correct ; but human judgment 
Has been corrupted by the fall of Adam. 
Hence Reason, as deciding moral questions, 

<^_ 



^ — — 

DEMANDS OF EQUITY. 279 

Cannot be trusted. Christian Faith must govern, 
And Reason to her dictates must submit. 

Hereafter, when apparent contradictions, 
Or things mysterious, exciting doubts, 
Arise before you in the Holy Bible, 
Like sable, thick, impenetrable clouds, — 
Say, these appearances are but illusions 
In fallen Reason's amaurotic eye. 
Half-blinded by the original defection. 
Her optic nerves cannot endure the splendors, 
The dazzling glories, of celestial truths. 
By Faith reflected from her sacred mirror. 

Remember, child, the punishments inflicted 
On vile transgressors are their real dues, 
By Equity demanded. She can never 
Be satisfied without them ; and, like Mercy, 
High Equity is great Messiah's sisfer ; 
She is the elder sister of the two. 
Tenacious of her birthright ; all her claims 
And debits must be satisfied completely. 
Before sweet Mercy can obtain a hearing. 
Consider, too, how sinners have despised. 
And cast behind their backs, the Saviour's oflfers ; 
They, with derision vile, beneath their feet 
His vital blood have trampled in the dust, — 
His precious blood, for their salvation poured, 
In rich profusion, from his sacred veins. 
Base ingrates I — how can you expect for these 
His tender mercies will endure forever 1 



_ — . — ^ 

280 PEREGRINUS. 

But, said this infant, (still unsatisfied,) 
Dear mother, will you pardon my presumption? 
I do observe that somehow you distinguish 
Between the doctrines of the Holy Bible 
And old traditions of the pious clergy, — 
As if they in authority were equal. 
And binding on our consciences alike : 
Still, you 've informed me that the Holy Scriptures 
Were penned by special saints of ancient days, 
Directed by unerring inspiration ; — 
That these, in different ages, by degrees. 
Composed the Bible, till it had obtained 
Its present fulness, being now complete. 
You said : — The Holy Bible, thus compiled, 
And being finished by the apostle John, 
Contains all necessary information 
Concerning God, Messiah, and religion, 
The duty God requires of mortals here, 
And all the future destiny of man. 
You told me : — All from Scripture deviating 
Are wicked heretics, accursed of God, 
Cast out and anathem'atized on earth ; 
They should be separated from the church, 
Purged from the congregation of the faithful, 
And shunned as if infected with contagion. 
Now, if no deviation is allowed 
From doctrines of this ancient inspiration, 
Why do you mention clerical additions, 
A nd tell me what the ministers believe 1 



EFFECTS OF THE FALL. 281 

May not these old traditions of the clergy 
All prove untrue, — romantic, false inventions? 
All wicked heresies, accursed of Heaven, 
As deviations from Jehovah's book? 

May this not be heretical conceit. 
That Adam, as the clergy tell us, fell, 
In the beginning, through the vile seduction 
Of crafty Satan, erst a great archangel. 
First son of morning, and the very chief 
Of all the princes of the upper worlds ; — 
With artifice beguiled, in early youth, — 
(Nay, in his very infancy of life,) 
Unversed in artifice, unfit to stand 
Against the machinations of a foe 
Old in seductions, an adept in whiles. 
Long ere the starry heavens began to roll ? 
Did Father Adam, when he thus succumbed 
To his arch-enemy, draw after him 
His unborn progeny into the pit 
Of sin, corruption, horror, and despair? 
And are the people, too, of every age, 
Involved in all the horrible results 
Of this transaction, though to him unknown. 
While they, unborn, were perfectly unknowing 
Of their progenitor and of his crime ? 
And did their nature thus become depraved, 
Though every one was ignorant alike 
Of this transgression and the law transgressed ? 

* 

24* 



* 

282 PEREGRINUS. 



Are all thus made inheritors of death, — 
A threefold death, — a death that never dies? 
(The last enumerated of the three.) 
Are all of woman born unwilling heirs 
Of sinfulness, iniquity, and guilt, — 
Conceived in sin, produced with evil hearts, 
And by the tide of nature borne along 
To one vast ocean of eternal woes ? 

I hope Jehovah is not such a tyrant, — 
So horrible, so cruel, so unjust. 
As represented in these horrid pictures ; 
I wish these declarations all may prove 
Blaspheming heresies, accursed of God, 
As deviations from the Holy Scriptures. 

Dear mother, will you now commence anew, 
As if you 'd never seen the holy books ; 
Take up the Bible, and peruse the whole, 
From the beginning to the very last 
Of what was written by the saints of old. 
With care observing every single passage, 
In due connection, so to ascertain 
Whether these doctrines are indeed expressed 
So clearly there as to establish them 
Beyond the possibility of doubt? 

But, if they are not clearly written there. 
How joyfully would you and I reject them ! — 
Spurn them, and hurl them to devouring flames, 

4- ^ 



FALSE TEACHERS. 



283 



To vanish and appear no more forever ! 
I 've heard you tell of very wicked priests ; 
Now are not ministers and priests the same ? 

Yes : — Greek and Roman ministers, indeed, 
Improperly the title Priest assumed, 
Through vanity and pride, without a warrant 
For such assumption from the Saviour Christ ; 
In imitation of the pagans old. 
They took this appellation ; and with these. 
The same, of course, is minister and priest. 
Not so the Protestants and other clergy, 
Who follow Jesus rather than the church, 
Reject tradition, and obey the Lord : 
They choose no pompous titles to assume. 
Nor Rabbi, Rabbi, to be called of men ; 
Like Jesus, humble, and like Jesus, meek. 

But this, dear mother, is what I designed. 
When speaking of these ministers, to say, — 
Perhaps some evil priests together joined 
To fabricate these most horrific systems. 
Devoid of reason, equity, and goodness. 
To subjugate the people to their sway. 
I well remember still what Deacon Brown, 
Concerning wicked clergymen, once said. 
Both of their haughtiness and cruel power ; 
And how, in furtherance of their base designs, 
They made the people most obedient slaves. 



*• 



_ — ^ 

284 PEREGRINUS. 

Does Scripture, in reality, declare 
That God, the author of the human race, 
Hereafter will reanimate our dust, 
From long, deep slumber in the gelid earth ; 
Will long extinct vitality restore 
To all the multitudes of human birth. 
Both saints and sinners, and arraign them all 
At his inexorable bar ; — the first 
To be partakers of eternal joy , — 
A vast and inconceivable reward 
For their brief, puny services below ; 
But all the countless myriads of the last 
To be condemned to everlasting anguish, — 
To hopeless and interminable horrors. 
For tiny errors in this transient life ? 

But why must every human soul endure 
Two days of judgment 1 — Cannot one suffice ? 
You told me, every sinner, when he dies. 
Ascends directly to the bar of God, — 
There stands a trial, and is there condemned 
To spend a whole eternity in hell. 
Will not its sentence have its full effect, 
Without a future public confirmation. 
In presence of the whole created world ? 
Or, from that judgment lies there an appeal ? 
And may the former sentence be reversed 
By this tribunal, in " the great assize 
Which ends the tragedy of human life," — 



^- 



^ 

REQUIREMENTS OF GOD's JUSTICE. 2S5 

The tragedy of all terrestrial things ? 
If not, this great and terrible parade 
Appears like solemn mockery to me ; — 
An awful and a horrible display 
Of noise and power, producing no effect. 

But, dear Amanda, these specifications 
Now come unwelcome, rushing unexpected, 
Where general outlines chiefly were proposed. 
And special conversation not designed. 

When Peregrinus, in his early days. 
Heard preachers fulminating wrath and vengeance, 
He of his troubled spirit oft inquired, 
In real truth, is heaven's Immortal Sire 
A being such as ministers describe him? 
And can his justice ne'er be satisfied. 
Nor little, feeble, short-lived man redeemed, 
Save by a slaughtered victim all-divine ? 
And is the death of God's Eternal Son, 
With public degradation and reproach. 
In torment and excruciating pain, 
The only medium to calm his rage 1 
And does this appellation, " Justice," mean 
Immitigable anger and revenge ? 
And must a being full of love divine, 
Spotless and holy, innocent and good, — 
A glorious Deity, — with anguish writhe, 
In all the agonies of shameful death. 
To rescue mortals from his Father's curse ? 



286 PEREGRINUS. 



Who will explain how dying agonies 
Of perfect innocence can make amends 
To God Almighty for his broken laws ? 
How rank injustice pay for man's offence 1 
Or show me how the All-Holy can delight 
In seeing perfect innocence in pain ? 

But he was told, " The ransom was paid down ; 
And he was told, — The ransom was complete, — 
Well pleasing in the Almighty Father's eye ; 
And he was told, — The precious blood of Christ 
Has sprinkled all the flaming throne of God, 
And quenched its burning. 

He was further told. 
However strange, mysterious, and absurd. 
These declarations may to reason seem. 
We must believe them. He that fails in this 
Will be tormented in the flames of hell 
To all eternity, for unbelief, 
Unpitied, — by the holy saints abhorred. 
While deemed by all an infidel accursed. 

He, by the " holy ministers," who said 
They were the servants of the Living God, — 
The messengers of Jesus, — was informed 
That man's infinity of debt was paid 
With blood, — an offering precious and divine ; 
And Justice being satisfied in full, — 
No item of her debits being left. 



-* 



MEANS OF SALVATION. 287 

In all her books, uncancelled or unpaid, — 
Some men are in reality redeemed, 
On their compliance with the stated terms 
Thereafter proffered ; — by the mean of faith 
By faith, and only faith, as some affirmed, 
(These preachers understood belief alone. 
By faith, without relation to its fruits :) 
But some informed him that salvation's means 
Are works of merit, of obedience, done 
As voluntary acts. 

But some rejected 
These mediums of redemption, and despised them, 
As trash, as stubble, and as rotten hay ; 
They scorned the notion that salvation's temple 
Consists of faith, repentance or good works. 
These told him, — As the building was begun, 
So will it be completed by the Lord, 
Through partial love, discriminating grace, 
Which, from eternity, elected some 
To everlasting life. And these alleged 
That all the millions of the human race 
Who with the elected few were not enrolled 
Were left to perish in their unbelief ; — 
Detested reprobates, by Heaven abhorred, 
And doomed eternally to die in sins. 

These Calvinistic preachers, too, informed him, — 
The Almighty, from eternity, designed 
In both the elect and reprobated souls, 
(Such by his own immutable decree,) 

* 



28S PEREGRINUS. 



To glorify himself. In his elect, 
His sovereign love and mercy are displayed, 
His sovereign, partial, and peculiar grace. 
But, like a frantic tyrant's mad caprice. 
By reason and philanthropy unmoved. 
Seemed to the troubled infant this description 
Of what they called his attribute of Mercy. 

The next assertion horrified his soul. 
And filled him with the torment of despair. 
Eternal Justice and Almighty Power 
Through all infinity are glorified, 
And high exalted in the admiring views 
Of all the shining armies of the sky. 
By his eternal horrible decree. 
By which a vast majority are doomed 
To never-ending misery and wrath. 

The people who, in haughtiness of mind, 
In high imagination, self-conceit. 
And silly, pride-inflated fancy, stood 
As favorite and elected sons of heaven, — 
His jewels and his holy ones, — exclaimed, 
" O, precious doctrine of electing love ! 
Soul-cheering doctrine, — free and sovereign grace ! 
Sweet counsel of election ! — blessed theme ! 
'T will furnish everlasting songs of praise : — 
Electing love divine, which, from the mass 
Of human progeny selecting me, 



— - - ■ ■'^ 

FALSE IMPRESSIONS. 289 



Secured my pardon, and my soul redeemed ; — 
Bestowed on me salvation, — made me sure, 
Through my Redeemer, of eternal bliss. 
Forever blessed be Jehovah's love, 
Which, by adoption, rendered me a son, 
Sealed my redemption to the day of triumph, 
When all the jewels, which of old were purchased 
By Christ our Saviour, shall be gathered in." 

When Phoebus twice three times had finished now 
His annual circuit, and as oft returned 
To cheer the north with renovating beams ; 
When thrice three times he had emitted rays 
Down from the lofty zenith of that arc 
Which bounds his northern circuit, since the day 
That Peregrinus first beheld his light. 
His hopes were blighted by the horrid doctrines 
Which here the pencil has but gently touched. 
So early in his pilgrimage on earth, 
Such peace-destroying, soul-tormenting lays 
Were chanted in his hearing, and confirmed 
By phrases cunningly detached from Jude, 
The letters of St. Peter to the church. 
The writings of the missionary Paul, 
And other sentences of holy writ. 
The meaning of these passages, of course, 
Was quite incomprehensible to him. 
While acting in so very early scenes 
Of this brief tragedy of human life. 



290 PEREGRINUS. 

But here the terrible impressions made 
By these instructions we forbear to trace. 
Or paint those agonies through which he passed, — 
The varied scenes of misery and death, — 
Before he shook these hated dogmas off. 
With mighty efforts, from the fettered mind ; — 
Before these chains were from his spirit rent. 
Made free by sacred Truth's victorious power. 
This w^e reserve for some appropriate time 
Of future conversation, should we meet 
Hereafter, and the story then pursue. 

These doctrines were pronounced by men who seemed 
To be the real deputies of Christ, 
Empowered Jehovah's counsels to proclaim, 
And publish all the oracles of God. 
An affectation of deep sanctity 
Appeared in all their gestures, tones and looks. 
Their lofty carriage seemed to utter this : — 
We, in the favor of Almighty God, 
In holiness and every Christian grace. 
Are much superior to our fellow-men. 
These men discoursed (as said Lorenzo Dow) 
As if they, from eternity, had stood 
In special favor with the Deity, — 
Advisers of the everlasting King, — 
Lords of his privy council, when he formed, 
Of old, his purposes, decrees and plans, 
And fixed the final destiny of all. 



^ 

DOWNFALL OF BIGOTRY. ZiQl ! 



But Calvinists have all their courage lost ; — 
Not one among their ministers proclaims 
Such black predestination as could doom, 
Fix, and without a remedy consign, 
From all eternity, without a cause^ 
Millions of millions to an endless hell. 
This Calvin's Christian Institutes declare ; • 
And this they all with confidence affirmed. 
Till their own people would no longer bear 
These libels on the character of God. 
They dare not publish from the pulpit now 
Such predeterminations in the hearing 
Of most devoted members of their churches. 
No more these horrid blasphemies are heard. 
Save where drear Superstition yet expands 
Her dismal wings, excluding all the rays 
Of science and improvement from the place. 
Long since the mighty besom of the works 
Of Wesley and of Fletcher swept aw^ay 
These doctrines to the nethermost abyss 
Of dark oblivion, to arise no more. 

But why should we this general sketch protract, 
Here to reveal with what a deadly weight 
These doctrines pressed the spirit to the earth 
Of this poor subject of our brief memoirs 1 
Why, to discover how, with lifted blade, 
He once resolved to satisfy his doubts, 
For which, on earth, he no solution found ; 



292 PEREGRINUS. 



Tear off and fling away this covering veil, 

Which hides the spirit-world from human eyes ; 

Explore futurity, and know the worst 

By Heaven predestined for the sons of men ? 

Or how, this pufpose being turned aside 

By Providence supreme, he lived to know 

The boundless ocean of Jehovah's love, 

And triumph in his all-redeeming grace ? 

Why should we mention his seven times a day 

When six years old, devoted and assigned 

To secret prayer and meditation deep, 

By superadded numbers oft increased ; 

Then pouring forth the sorrows of his heart 

To his Creator in a lonely grove. 

Whose verdant foliage, with continuous shade, 

Completely intercepted Phoebus' rays 1 

Although a strange variety appears 
Among the links of this extended chain, 
Suffice it, for the present, to declare 
That hourly mental supplications rose 
To him who sits upon creation's throne, 
For special wisdom flowing from above, 
And all the influence of sacred truth. 
Why mention all the superadded times 
Of deep dejection, spent in secret places, 
With invocations, sighs and flowing tears, 
Caused by the theologic chaos poured 
In thundering vengeance from the sacred desk 1 



^- 



HIS PARTING WITH AMANDA. 293 

We '11 talk of these, if Providence allow, 
In future conversations, when at length 
We, in due order, to these seasons come. 

Here Peregrinus from his long narration 
Desisted, promising the inquiring lady 
The earliest future opportune occasion 
Should fully gratify her warm desires 
To know the sequel of these infant struggles, 
To break his prison walls, and to escape 
Into salvation, liberty and life. 
Such opportunities occurred no more ; 
For soon our traveller was called away 
From that enchanting river, which is flowing 
Most sweetly near Amanda's habitation. 
Invoking then Heaven's richest benedictions 
On this dear lady and her pious kindred. 
Especially her venerable parent. 
Her father, who in evangelic truth 
Delights sincerely, — he departed thence ; 
Perhaps he never more, with mortal eyes, 
Will see her visage, nor commingle spirits 
With her and hers, in conversation sweet. 
Of love — divine, eternal, universal ; 
To banquet on its flowing streams together, 
With sweet communion and reciprocation. 
No. more, within the sphere of optic vision, 
To sit together in celestial ages. 
Till their conclusion — till the mom of glory. 



25"* 



<^ 



294 PEREGRIN us. 



Divinely rising with unfading Iteauty, 
Unite us all in Christ's mysterious body, — 
That body spiritual and undecaying. 
No earthy vision shall we then require, 
When all is perfect, and when all is spirit. 
Our minds no medium of communication 
Will need, when heavenly union is completed. 

But here, Mnemosyne, fling down the l3rre, 
And with suspended music wing thy way, 
In solemn silence, to thy theme's renewal. 
His labors and his journeys leave unsung. 
While through the state he travelled far and near. 
To publish tidings of immortal love 
And pure beatitude for dying men, 
To be developed in the future age. 
When Death's dominion shall forever cease. 
And he, — the last remaining foe, — shall die. 
Let our adopted muse, with rapid wing. 
Flit o'er the malady that seized his vitals. 
His nerves disordered, and with inflammation 
Affecting his cerebrum, seemed to threaten 
His intellects, and thus excite forebodings 
That Reason, by the febrile power deranged. 
Would, from his royal eminence dethroned. 
Forbear to regulate the soul, and leave him 
In darkness and in mental aberration. 

Extinguished fever now composed a truce. 
As brief as fragrancy of summer flowers, 



HE INVOKES THE MUSE IN SICKNESS. 295 



Between our pilgrim and disease. When autumn 

Began to step on summer's lingering heel, 

He, with a torporiiic malady 

Confined, was menaced with entire privation 

Of nervous, muscular, and mental force, 

And locomotive power. While thus oppressed, 

He snatched a pen, though his enfeebled mind 

Had grasped no subject of investigation, 

With purpose for a moment to relieve 

This ennui of his spirits, and allure 

The tardy minutes to a quicker flight. 

Then, as at once, Amanda's fervent wish 
To learn the story of his early grief, 
From wrong tuition flowing, and to gain 
The instruction which, perhaps, might thence arise, 
Flashed on his memory with sudden blaze ; 
He called the willing muse, and so resumed 
The topic orally commenced before. 
The poem thus begun he nurtured still. 
Beneath inclement skies, while tempests raged. 
Drove clouds before them, made the forests groan, 
Earth's clothing into wild disorder flung, — 
Howled, bellowed, roared, and whistled to his song. 
His strains protracting, still he journeyed on. 
Beyond that ice-enveloped stream which bears 
That appellation it received of yore. 
Long ere the pilgrims travelled o'er the deep ; 
The stream which in its bosom nurtures still 



.A 



19Q • PEREGRINUS. 



A remnant of that ancient savage race, 
Of old the true possessors of the soil. 
He journeyed still to preach salvation there, 
And God's immensity of love declare ; 
To all the slaves of Bigotry proclaim 
A general ransom in Messiah's name ; 
And'lead them to the promised land of rest, 
Which true believers enter, and are blest. 



STKREOTYPED BY 

HOBART & ROBBINS: 

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BOSTON. 



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